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^ ~T^ , - MPROVED AND GREATLY ENLARGED, 

ISi. . OF THE. 



OF MAKING 




BECURED BY PATENT IN THE UNITED STATES: 
EXAMINED AND APPROVED, AS TO ITS SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES, 

BY 

PROFESSOR ELI IVES, M. D., 

One of the Vice Presidents of the General Society of Agriculture ; 

AND 

AS TO ITS ADVANTAGES AND PRACTICAL USEFULNESS, 

BY 

THE SOCIETY OF AGRICULTURE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



Sole Proprietor of the Copy Right, and Proprietor of the Patent Right for the 
Northern and Eastern States. 

ABBETT & Co., BALTIMORE, 
Proprietor of the Patent Right for the Southern and Western States. 



NEW YORK: 

PRINTED AT THE HERALD BUILDINGS, CORNER OF FULTON AND NASSAU STREETS, 

1S43. 




NEW METHOD, 



WHICH TEACHES HOW TO MAKE 



VEGETABLE MANURE, 



I BY A COURSE OP HIGH FERMENTATIOISr IN FIFTEEN DAYS, WITHOUT CATTLE, 
< AS GOOD AND MORE DURAELB THAN FARM MANURE : 



TO APPROPRIATE IT TO THE NATURE OF SOILS AND FAMILIES OF PLANTS, 



AND WITH 



GREAT ECONOMY; 



IT FURTHER SHOWS HOW TO PREPAR3 



VEGETABLE AND MINERAL COMPOSTS, 



CONTAINS VARIOUS PROCESSES, 

1st — To augment and ameliorate the manure of a Farm, 

2ci. — ^To prepare a Fertilizing Liquid for irrigation. 

3d, — To convert into Manure the lees and residues of Distilleries and Manufactories, and 

4th— To revive Garden Beds without changing the litter. 




BY GEORGE BOMMER. 
II 



NEW YORK: 

HERALD BtriI.DI]N"GS, 97 NASSAXX STREET, CORWEH OF FITLTOr CTREET. 



1843. 

4ft 








e^^ j^^fr^ /h^ 



Patent and Copy Rights secured by Law. 



-J 



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r 0^ H 



^•. ■. ^ 



■•■\N A 



V 



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i 



ADVERTISEMENT. 



In presenting to the agriculturists of America, a work professing to contain all the im- ■ 

provements I have made, and which the science of Manures has attained to the present day, I 

it became my duty to seek information and assistance in every quarter from whence it could > 

be obtained. In doing so, I found that Messrs Abbett & Co. of Baltimore, were pursuing i 

a course of experiments which was yielding them valuable results in this new science. / 

Mutually influenced by a desire to benefit the agricultural public, we deemed it best, both < 

for that community and for ourselves, to conjoin our respective improvements, and thus lay I 

before them, in an imdivided whole, a perfected method of manures, which, we have no ^ 

doubt, will mark a new era in the agricultural history of the age. <! 

It is proper to add, that this is the only patent for manure granted by the United States, > 

and, by the necessary documents recorded in the patent otEce, the right for the southern and ? 

I western States is held by Abbett & Co. of Baltimore, and for the northern and eastern I 

States by j 



GEORGE BOMMER. 



:;, 



I 



rice i>4 me ^/^e^noa 



fJnid cofm o4 me 0^a^67ii x/Memod o4 ieacAina me^amtcaUon o4 \ 
i/m>ci'nm6d Id me exctu4we ^uo^eih/} o4 

<L7€a^e 
on condiiio-n inai me duid 

^v:tjw use ti oni-u ooi nid otif?i daiwij a^id n&i ^eii me onaniae 
ncr awe me 'mto^fiue} ncr im^aii ar aei^ {^ne daid "fnemod lo 
€i>nu omef /lerdon. 





J' acdnotmedae to nave tecewed c4 me <c/a'Udcii^er , avove 
ncmied) me &umt o4 



PREFACE. 



Agricttlttjrists ! The method which we present to you, although not emanating 
from a chemical laboratory, is yet in harmony with the principles of chemistry, being the 
resultance of the meditations, reflections, and practical experiments, which we now lay 
before you. It is not, then, a theory founded upon probabilities more or less specious ; we 
have practiced, and we expose in good faith the processes of our invention with the effects 
which they have produced. They are explained in a way so simple that they can be easily 
understood and put in practice. 

We make no pretensions to having found any new element for manure ; all our merit 
consists in having better observed facts which have either escaped the attention of other 
men, or of which they have not fully appreciated all their importance, and in having turned 
these observations to profit, namely : 

1st. To have combined, in a fecundating alliance, materials which, if employed separately, 
would not produce the results desired. 

2d. To have composed a liquid by which we replace with advantage the urine of cattle, 
and by the use of which we can produce, in the materials employed, a fermentation which 
can be directed at will. 

3d. To have conceived a process by which we can make masses of manure with but few 
elements. 

4th. To have decomposed, in a few days, ligneous plants, by the aid of water and inor- 
ganic materials. 

In a word, to have created a method which supplies a very important defect in agricul- 
ture, and to have resolved, in a satisfactory manner, one of its most important problems. 

Agriculture is assuredly the most important art which man has imagined, either to sup- 
ply his wants, or to smooth the cares which are inseparable from his existence. It is not 
then an exaggeration to maintain, that in default of all other inventions, the processes of 
agriculture alone would suffice for his preservation, and even for the embellishment of his 
days. . , 

It may also be asserted, that agriculture, in its broadest signification j Is a very compli- 
cated science, which ties itself by a thousand threads to all other branches of human 
laiowledge, but in its more restricted sense it consists in the tillage,; and in the establishment 
of manures, in accordance with the wants of the soil and its products. 

I know of no better way of urging the importance of manures than by quoting the follow- 
ing passage from an admirable work upon " The Nature of Manures, and the Manner in 
which they Act," by the illustrious Parmentier : 

" The scarcity of manures, and their unskilful employment, are the principal causes of 
" the sterility of a country. In vain are united efforts to discover new modes of culture, to 
" reform those already known, and to improve agricultural implements ; if we neglect the 
" first sources of fecundity, the crops will always be indifferent and uncertain." 

Nothing can be said upon the subject of manures more just and profound. 

Well, it is precisely this scarcity of manures which afHicts our country, and which is the 
greatest plague of our agriculture, rendered yet more sensible by their unskilful employment. 
But let us search a little into the probable causes of this scarcity. I 

At first, farmers, ignorant of the application of chemistry to agriculture, employ only I 
manure from cattle and mineral amendments for their exhausted grounds, and of these there 5 
is always an insufficiency ; for the quantity of cattle which they possess is ordinarily pro- i 



PREFACE. 



portioned to the size of their farms, and every body knows that the richest proprietor of 
cattle is far from having enough to satisfy the wants of his domains. It is true that pride 
sometimes induces them to say that they can produce enough from their cattle, but they 
only cheat themselves by the illusion. And as for the large quantity of mineral amendments 
which they employ by themselves, they are, so used, not only of short duration in the ground, 
but, unskilfully appropriated to soils and plants, are often more deleterious than useful. 

It must, then, be admitted, that this facility to procure cattle manure and mineral amend- 
ments, the first coming of itself, and the second being bought ready made, is one of the prin- 
cipal causes of the scarcity of manure and the stagnation of the art of preparing it. 

And furthermore, this scarcity of manures proves the negligence of the great number of 
farmers, and the little attention which they have given, up to this time, to the procurement 
and preservation of that which is of the utmost necessity to the culture of a farn:i. 

In a great number of farms the manure is treated as a merely incidental circumstance ; 
many of the elements of manure are suffered to waste, which this method would serve to 
combine ; nearly every where the juices, or principal fecundating elements of the manure 
heap, are dissipated or lost by the sole fault of the farmer. He does not dream of the utility 
of human excrements, as if these materials were not as valuable as the manure from cattle ; 
in short, nowhere is there a manufactory for manures attached to a farm. 

The little progress which the art of manures has made, is still further explained by the 
fact that the science of chemistry, which has done so much in other arts, has done the least 
in this. And why? Because few persons are fond of living in an infected atmosphere, to 
do which it is necessary to possess a certain strength of will, to overcome the repugnance 
which is excited by the sight, the smell and touch of bodies disorganized by fermentation. 

In all branches of science, where they can make their experiments in the laboratory, there 
has been progress, but in the art of manures or fermentation, where credit can only be 
gained by the reunion of a mass of organized bodies which ought to disagree, there has been 
but little progress for centuries. As we read in Virgil and the Greek agriculturists, so let 
us descend to our own days, look into every work upon agriculture, ancient or modern, and 
we will find that the manures which we employ in a state of combination were used by 
them separately. We will observe, that notwithstanding Oliver de Serre, Humphrey Davy, 
JVIaurice, Martin Rozier, Thaer, Puvis, Parmentier, Dombasle, Payen, Liebig and others, 
whose works are in other respects admirable, there has not been established, before the 
present method, any real progress in the art of manures, because these authors have gone 
around the true question, which with great sagacity they had foreseen. 

The one wlio appears most to have approached this system was a practical farmer in the 
South of France, named Jauffret, as his method admitted of improvements which might 
have rendered it useful to agriculture. 

Thus is it established, as well by that which has preceded, as by that which is to follow, 

that the art of manures was given up to chance, that it reposed upon no sure foundation, 

and that farmers of all countries made their manures according to circumstances, or rather 

at hap-hazard. From whence we should conclude that agriculture cannot truly flourish 

until each farm shall have on it a systemized manure factory, and an intelligent man to direct 

it, so as to make the necessary manure, and to graduate it to the various soils and plants. 

Now, this method traces the general rules of such a system, and puts every one in a way of 

accomplishing this object. It is nevertheless for you to act, to put your hands to the work, 

and be assured that this scarcity of manures will soon disappear, and this sore upon our 

agriculture will be healed for ever. 

^ We have reason to believe that this method will be acknowledged throughout all the Union 

i as of general utility, for it is not only the single cultivator, whether planter, farmer, 

} gardener or horticulturist, who can profit from this system, but the benefit will be 

< more or less considerable according to the local position and degree of intelligence of those 

> who may make its application. If we should be so happy as to see this system grow popu- 

< lar, we will have the high satisfaction of seeing every farmer in possession of his fixtures 

> for making manures whenever he wants them, and his whole force employed in manuring 
/ his ground. 

< The whole of the present method is divided into sections, and subdivided into articles. 






PREFACE. 7 I 

] Part First. — The method in all its simplicity. 

i Part Second. — Explanation and analytical developements of the method. 

<; Solutions of manure questions of high importance, and supplementary articles conse- 

j quent upon this system. 

i 



I earnestly recommend every one,before commencing operations, to read entirely through 
the two parts, which constitute the whole of the method, and oftener if they have the 

> leisure. Without this preliminary care the system will Jiot be well comprehended, because 
^ the two parts are linked together, feed and sustain each other, and form an inseparable whole. 
'/ The question of manures alone gathers, in its immense net, nearly all the art of agriculture. 
) We are very far from believing that we have closed the mine by this method; on the con- 
\ trary, we have only opened it, and its progress, relying upon science and practice, will 
'■ enlarge the art to fullness. 

> The appearance of our method gives the first idea, the first movement, and when this 
\ idea is well understood, and the movement has taken place, this art, which was stationary 
) before the new impulse, will forthwith march with rapidity — will increase from tributes 
i from our men of science and of genius, and will be improved by our intelligent agricul- 

< turists. In the meanwhile we indulge the satisfaction of having created a system which 
{ has ripened under our experiments, and from which every farmer can from this moment put 
) his hands to the work, under the full assurance that he will considerably augment his pro- 

< ducts by following our economical processes. 

\ For the purpose of facilitating our communications we have established our respective 

\ offices at New-York and Baltimore, where each subscriber to our method can address, postage 

I paid, for such instructions as he may desire upon the application of the system, either 

^ when he may become embarrassed upon one or more points of the practice, or when he 

\ may not have obtained the satisfactory results which the proper application of this method 

\ assures. It is at these offices, also, that subscribers are invited to address reports upon the \ 

] results of their operations, and either modifications or improvemennts which they may think 'i 

\ proper to suggest. i 

^ We will publish, in the month of February of each year, a collection, in pamphlet form, \ 

^ which will contain all the modifications and im.provements made either by our subscribers ^ 

? or ourselves, having first examined and recognized them to be for the interest of agriculture ; \ 

\ also the various results obtained from the use of this manure. J 

^ This collection will follov/ the present method, and each subscriber will receive a copy. > 

> To those who refund the expenses of printing, which will not be over twenty-five cents a \ 
\ copy, the subsequent number will be sent. ? 
/ In doing so we will approach towards a complete and entire constitution for the art of \ 
^ manures, and to sum up, we shall have obtained our end, which is, the good of Agri- \ 

\ CUIiTURE. i 



{ ^.;^^yu METHOD. n^':::>rS"' 



PART FIRST. 

SEDITION FIE.ST 



TROCESS TO MAKE VSGETABiE MAKXJRE, BY FEUMSWTATION. 

Article First. — Of saturated water. 
Saturated water, such as we desire, is to be met with at almost every stay 



^ 



l in the country. It is simply water in which vegetable and animal matter have ^ 

< been suffered to decompose and rot. Pure vv^ater, ia case of need, m.ay serve ^ 
I your purpose, but as it is-so easy to make this saturated water, and as it con- ^ 
I tributes so much to the decomposition and good quahty of the manure, we I 
\ recommend to farmers not to begrudge the trilling lahor required in its prepa- > 
i ration, and always to employ it in preference to pure water. > 

< The first thing to be done is to prepare a convenient reservoir to contain a ^ 

< sufficient quantity of the liquid. We employ for this purpose hogsheads, vats, 'I 
I or small ponds. In case there are none of these at hand a common ditch may < 
^ be dug of sufficient size, the bottom and sides of which should be beaten so as I 
^ to prevent the loss of water by filtration. If, notv/ithstanding these precau- ? 
^ tions, the soil will not retain the water, an old cask of the largest size, with ^ 
<. one head knocked out and buried to the chime, will answer every purpose. i 
■} After a time, when the farmer is convinced of the utility of this method, he ^ 
^ will find it to his advantage to establish permanent reservoirs. These reservoirs ! 
I should be so placed that the water may flow into them freely. Into these re- > 
i servoirs may be thrown all easily decaying vegetable or animal substances, I 

such as weeds growing on the banks of ditches, and around houses, the remains / 
of dead animals, urine sweepings of the house, slops of the kitchen, and similar j 
\ materials. '> 

Add to this liquid about a pint of quick lime to every barrel of water. From ^ 
time to time stir up the whole from its dep-th with a long pole,* and fermentation \ 
\ will soon commence. \ 

i The necessary time for this water to acquire all its qualities, varies according I 
S to the quantity and nature of the material which may be put into it, and ac- i 
] cording to the temperature of the air. It may arrive at this point in about < 
> eight days, v>^hile at other times three weeks, or even a month, are necessary, i 
^ The only rule which you have to observe in this respect is, that the water shall I 

< be in full fermentation, and as highly charged as possible with the materials I 
I which you have put into it. After all, too much importance should not be I 



i * For this purpose a handle mserted in the half round of a little barrel head will make 
< an instrument t;iat will amply repay its cost. 



^ 10 eommer's method 

J attached to the perfect preparation of this liquid, it is only one of the means of i 

^ making our manure with the more despatch and economy. > 

] It frequently happens that the farmer finds this saturated water already made : i 

^ the stagnant and corrupt water in ditches and ponds on the farm, or near it ; . 

;■ all low spots where water gathers and stagnates, will furnish a saturated water ^ 

'/ of excellent quality. Saturated water serves to temper the materials which ( 

< compose the lye, and to feed them. s 

? Article Second — Place of Operation. I 

^ Wherever the farmer has made or found his reservoirs, there also should be ^ 

} his manure heap, whether in the farm yard or the field. An oblong square 

i spot should be fixed upon of a size suitable to the quantity of the manure to 

j be made. 

J This being staked out, you throw the earth from the inside of your lines 

'/ until the excavation has a depth of six inches in tlje higher part, and nine in 

i the lower ; this will give to tlife excavation a fall of three inches towards the 

> reservoir, for the lye which v/ill be spoken of in article third. 

< Afterwards you cut obliquely the sides of the excavation, so as to gi'/e an 

< inclination towards its base, in order that the air may penetrate under the heap 
', through the vent holes, which are in the supports of the grate, which will be 

> spoken of in the following article. 

j This done, level perfectly the ground, beat or puddle all the surface so as to 

^ prevent the filtration of the drainings ; then make, within two feet of each 

< other, some small gutters across the breadth of the excavation, which should 
^ be one inch deep and four inches Y.dde, into which inlay laths of the same 
I dimensions, so that they be level with the surface of the excavation. 

/ These laths, so placed, are intended to prevent the sinking of the grate into 
I the earth, which might be occasioned by the weight of the heap. 
Below is the plan of the excavation, or ground plan of a heap : 

^^^P '1^ A. Represents the border or em- 

^^^P^ ankment of earth, spoken in the 

iPfr 'rst part of art. 2. 

m ~ U 

/I B. Represents the obhquely cut 



1 



on the side of the excavation, spo- 



^(iliWiLii^- '■i'^ ken in the second part of the art. 2. 

p||i pi!'!!l!,, :_,....:„.,__,: j4 ^ 

r iililr 'ku c Represents the earth inside the 

IllPb. . _ __ 1^ excavation. 

f 

£ D. Represents the laths, spoken at 

^^K. ^ the end of art. 2.* 

* These laths or bars across the platform are necessary only when the soil is light, or, in 
short, not very solid ; should the soil be clayey, compact and solid, these bars are useless, 
and may be omitted. 



Article Third. — Grate upon loJiich the heap is built. 

To construct this grate, take laths of from three to five inches wide, and 
half to one inch thick, place them at from one to one and a half inches dis- 
tant from each other, upon wooden supports, one inch thick and six inches high 
in the high part, and nine inches high in the lower part, or towards the reser- 
voir, so that when the grate is set upon the excavation it will be upon a level 
with the exterior soil. 

The laths ought to be as long as the width of the excavation, and the supports 
as long as the length of it, because the grate covers all the surface of the 
excavation. 

The number of laths will depend upon the length of the excavation, and 
that of the supports upon the breadth. These last should be placed at two 
feet distance from each other, to commence at the interior edge of the excava- 
tion on each side. In this manner the grat^vill have sufficient strength to 
support all the weight of the heap. 

Before nailing the laths upon the supports, three openings should be made in 
each support, where they do not rest upon the excavated ground ; that is to 
say, you should make in each support three vent holes with the saw, half the 
height of the support and one foot v/ide. 

These vent holes should be made in the intervals of the large laths which 
are inlaid in and traverse the excavation, so that in all cases the wood of the 
supports may rest upon the laths. 

These vent holes are intended to facilitate the circulation of the air under 
the grate, and of course under the heap. 

The advantages of this grate are described in the second part of this I^wiod, 
Article 2, Section 2. 

Below is the plan.of the grate : 



Fig. 2. 




This grate has the 
same dimensions as the 
excavation in fig. 3. — 
Its construction is suf- 
ficiently explained in 
article 3. 



12 



eo:mmer's method 



For those who have not the convenience, or object to the expense of making 
the grate i recommend the following plans of laying off their place of opera- 
tion ; 

A. Rep'-esents the ground. 




E. The Channels or Antlers, ^ 
ight inches wide, four inches deep ] 
:.: the upper end or towards the < 
middle of the platform, and five 5 
inches deep at the lower end, or i 
-owards the gutter. \ 

c. Is a gutter around the heap, ; 

; aviug at top the same depth as ; 

:he gutters b, and, on both sides, ; 

uve inches in width at the top, and : 
six at the bottom, or towards the 
vat. 

N. B. — This difference in the 
aepth of the gutters is designed to 
give them a slight inclination or 
fall, in order to facilitate the de- 
scent of the running liquid. 

D. Two small channels or gut- 
ters, four inches deep. 

F. Are rails placed lengthwise on the platform, at the distance of three feet 
betw|fl^each. 

G. me rails crossing the foregoing ones (f) with the space of four inches 
between each. 

Article Fourth. — Reservoir for the Lye. 



i 



Below the declivitv of the excavation described in Article Second, a ditch or ' 

vat must be dug four feet deep, ten feet square. If the soil absorbs the > 

water, it should be puddled with clay, floored and vralled v/ith plank, or paved ^ 

and v/alled with brick, in order to prevent the filtration and loss of lye. I 

' It is in this reservoir that we prepare the lye in which we water the mate- .; 

') rials intended to be reduced to manure, and in which also is retained all the < 

I hquid which flows from the heap during the operation. ' 

I The small farmer, who has only one reservoir, can make it serve both i 

\ for the preparation of the saturated water and the lye ; yet, as the saturated ^ 

'<■ water requires time for its preparation, and ought always to be secured before- ? 

' hand in a sufficient quantity, it is advantageous to have a reservoir for this use \ 

\ alone, and the more so as the lye is never made in as large a quantity as the > 

^ saturated water. < 



FOR Mil KING MANURE. 



13 



10 fret. 



Fig. 4. 




Plan of the location where 
the work is done, ready for de- 
positing the materials to be con- 
verted into manure. 

The grate placed over the 
excavation. 

The reservoir prepared to 
receive the lye. 



10 feet. 



Article Fifth. — Table of inateriais of ivhick the lye is composed, as near as 
may be judged of by guess, loithoiit the necessity of carefully weighing them. 

To convert into manure one ton (2,000 lbs.) of dry straw or vegetables, or 
two tons (4,000 lbs.) of green vegetables, either of which will produce about 
four tons (8,000 lbs.) of manure. The ingredients to compose the lye should 
be used in the following proportions : 

1. Quick Lime, (unsiacked stone lime,) , 2 bushels. 

2. Soot, ,,. , 2 do. 

3. Ashes not slacked, 2 do. 

4- Salt, 4 pounds. 

5. Saltpetre, 2 do. 

6. Ground Plaster of Paris, or Gypsum, 5 bushels. 

7. Human Excrements, or Night Soil, ....'. 3 barrels. 

8. Leaven, which is fermented liquid that has passed through manure prepared 

after this method, • • • • X barrel. 



< 



14 bommer's method 

Article Sixth. 

The following materials may be substituted, when necessary, for a part of 
those designated in the table above : 



I SOOT. 

< In place of two bushels of chimney soot, take six bushels of materials from I 

5 an ecobuage, or clearing fire., (See 2d Fart, 2d Sec, Art- 3, Sec. 2.) i 

\ \ 

'{ ASHES. \ 

\ In place of two bushels of ATOod ashes, take six pounds of potash, or of soda, i 

\ PLASTER. \ 

\ For five bushels of plaster, substitute six barrels of slime from the river or \ 

\ sea-shore, or marl, or swampy matter, or the mud from ditches, or the mould ^ 

'i from the foot of a hill, or dirt from streets, or black earth from the woods. \ 

^ HUMAN EXCREMENTS. \ 

\ For three barrels of night soil, substitute five barrels of horse, ox, cow, or ^ 

I hog dung, or take six barrels of " purin," that is to say, the juice proceeding ^ 

< from the manure of cattle, or liquid which flows from a manure heap after \ 
\ a rain. \ 

< These three barrels of excrements may also be replaced by two bushels of \ 
^ barley, or two and a half bushels of any other grain. Steep the grain in a 

\ barrel with lye enough to cover it. When the lye cannot be had, take urine 

\ mixed with water. By this steeping the grain swells, ferments, and in about 

\ six or eight days bursts, and when the grain can be crushed by the pressure of 

') the finger, and converted into a kind of paste, it is ready for use. 

:; LEAVEN, OR FERMENTED JUICE. 

^ Concerning the " leaven," or fermented juice, which flows from the heap, 
\ it can only be had after the operation has been gone through with, and there- 
\ fore at the first trial it must be dispensed with, and in its place the first seven 
\ ingredients announced in the table should each be augmented at least one fifth ; 
\ and this is the more especially recommended to his attention, as the operator, 
^ not having had practice in this work, might not, without great care, obtain a 
^ satisfactory result. 

\ Afterwards, and as soon as the " leaven" and saturated water shall be well 
I prepared, the preparations indicated in the table should be followed; and when \ 
^ the water is highly impregnated with decomposed materials, and the " leaven" 
is in great strength and quantity, the other ingredients may be diminished one 
third without injuring the quality of the manure. 

The fermentation, which causes the decomposition of the materials, being 
the essential point in the operation, it should be observed that its development 
depends more upon the goodness of the " leaven," and of the saturated water, 
and the copious application of the mixture, than upon the quantity of the other 



^ 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 15 



ingredients, and he who will attend to these three conditions, and who puts \ 
forth a little skill in the manipulation, is always sure of success. j 

Those who desire to vary the quality of their manure according to their ^ 
soil, or the family of plants they are growing, will consult Articles three and I 
four, Section first, of the second part of this Method, which will show them in ; 
what proportion to augment or diminish these ingredients. I 



Article Seventh. — Composition of the Lye. ) 

Stir well the saturated water, then pour six to ten barrels of it into the I 

reservoir for making the lye ; afterv/ards put in the quick lime, having pre- ^ 

viously dissolved it in clear water ;* then the soot, also diluted v/ith water ; I 

then the ashes, the salt and the saltpetre ; stir these ingredients well together ; ? 

then throw in the ground plaster of paris, the excrements and the " leaven," > 

or whatever you may have substituted for each. After having perfectly mixed ^ 

all these, add of saturated or other water enough to make a total of about j 

I twenty barrels of the lye, if the vegetables are green, and about thirty barrels | 

/ if they are dry. ^ 

t 

^ Article Eighth. — Manner of niaking the manure heap. 

^ It would be well to spread the strav/ and stalks, or hard weeds, over the 
\ farm-yard for a few days previous, that they may be broken by the tramping 
\ of the cattle, or spread them near the manure heap, and afterwards to pass a 
'i layer over them. Ey this means the materials are softened and become more \ 
\ easily impregnated v/ith the lye. The vegetables to be converted into manure \ 
being ready, and lye prepared, we will proceed to construct the heap. 

This operation may be done in two ways, by immersion and by irrigation. 
Sec. 1. Process by immersion. 

Stir well the lye, then throw a portion of the vegetables into the reservoir. 
^ Plunge them into the lye with a fork shovel, or other instrument, until they 
\ are thoroughly soaked, then place them upon the grate over the excavation, of 
\ which we have already spoken ; continue so until you have covered the whole 
\ surface of the grate with a layer of some gas ten inches in height ; then take 
] the mud or slime Avhich you can gather from the bottom of the reservoir and 
\ spread a coating of it over the whole surface of the layer of vegetables • then 
\ throw the lye over the whole, so that the mud may descend and divide itself 
through the whole thickness of the layer ; then tread it down so as to render 
it as compact as possible. 

This first layer finished, you recommend the same labor in throwino- a second 
portion of the vegetables into the lye reservoir, soaking them, placino- them on 
the first layer, spreading again a coating of mud, drenching it with the lye 
and tramping again upon this second layer, so as to make the mass compact. 
Then place on that the third layer, and in the same manner continue until you 
have disposed of all the materials which are at hand to be reduced to manure. 

The quick lime should be carefully and cautiously slacked, so as not to drown it, but 
make it into a thin and consistent white wash. 



\ 16 



BOMMER'S METHOD 



The sides of the heap should be built perpendicularly, and give to it a height 
of from five to ten feet, according to the quantity of your materials. 

The harder and more vi^oody the materials are, the more they require being 
pressed and tramped upon as you are building the heap. 

When all the materials are piled up, and the heap is terminated, take the 
balance of the mud which you will find at the bottom of the reservoir and 
spread it over the top of the heap ; then pour the remaining lye upon it ; and 
after having trodden it down, well cover it with straw or weeds, in order to 
preserve it from the rains, or the rays of the sun. 
Sec. 2. Process by irrigation, or watering. 

You commence by putting upon the grate before mentioned a layer of the 
materials designed to be converted into manure. After this layer has attained 
a height of some ten or twelve inches, water it well with the lye ; this done, 
take mud from the bottom of the lye reservoir and spread it over the layer ; 
after which pour the lye again upon it, in order that the mud may descend and 
divide itself through all the thickness of the layer ; tramp it over well that it 
may be compressed into a mass and rendered as compact as possible. 

Afterwards place a second layer of the materials, of the same height, upon 
the first ; water again very copiously ; then spread the mud again over it, and 
give it a small watering, treading dov/n the mass as before. 

Then you place a third layer of the materials in the same manner as the 
preceding, and continue thus until all the materials have been piled up. 
The rest of the work is done as described in the preceding article. 

Farmers, who need large quantities of manure, will 
do well to make use of a pump, in operating according 
to the second process, by v/atering, as also for moistening- 
To this end v.^e subjoin a design of a pump, which may 
be constructed at little cost, out of an inch and a half 
plank. Say twelve feet long, five in square on the in- 
side, closed at the bottom with holes in number and 
size sufficient to admit a full supply of water between 
the bottom and the lower bucket, which is stationary. 
Two feet above this last is the upper bucket, to which 
is attached the rod. The buckets are made out of solid 
square blocks, bored or morticed with the grain, two and 
a half inches in diameter all through the lower bucket, 
but only three-fourths the way through the upper bucket, 
so as to leave a hold for the rod as depicted, and also to 
have a square hole morticed through laterally in which 
the valve is to play. 

The valves are made of wood, lined on the bottom 
with leather on which they hinge. 

The upper bucket is lined on the outside with leather 
nailed fast at the bottom, but displaying outwards at the 
top. 



^ 



Fig 




^ 



FOR MAKING MANURK. 



17 { 



The sides of this block are to be paired off above the valves, as seen in the 
picture, in order to suflFer the water to pass above it. 

Owing to the thickness of the water in which this pump is always used, we 
have found it useful to make it from half an inch to an inch larger at^the top 
than at the bottom, so that the playing bucket may the more readily free itself 
when choaked. 

When the heap has reached the height of from three to four feet, in case the 
work be done by irrigation, the pump should be used by putting it into the 
reservoir of lye ; for, when the heap has attained that elevation, the watering 
it by hand becomes fatiguing, particularly when the heap is large. 

Great care should be taken to have the materials well mixed in piling them. 
When operating upon leaves from the woods, they ought, in piling them, to be 
thoroughly intermixed with other vegetables. 

And this rule should be observed, that every time you use the lye it should 
be well stirred up from its depth, in order that the liquid may be thoroughly 
impregnated with the solid particles which are deposited at the bottom. 

I earnestly recommend not to spare the lye in the waterings, as the success 
of the operation depends in part upon this, for should any part of the heap 
escape, being wet with the lye, it will turn white or mould. 

Never forget that it is necessary for every substance which is designed to be 
converted into manure to be thoroughly soaked with the lye. 

That fermentation will not ensue to the extent desired, unless the material 
are very compact. 

Therefore, corn-stalks, owing to their hard water proof shell, or exterior 
covering, should be broken at least between every joint, in order that the lye 
may penetrate them. To do this we pass a roller over them, or throw them 
in the barn yard, or in the most travelled road which is convenient, and even 
then they should be well mixed with other vegetables, and especially those 
which will most readily imbibe liquids ; by this means they will be attacked 
by the fermentation of the adjoining vegetables. 

To keep the heap compact, never cross corn-stalks, or other hard, stiff, un- 
yielding materials of that nature, and at every foot high, tramp the heap well, 
and soak it. 

The following design represents the heap after its construction : 

Fig. 6. 




r 



18 



i If the heap is composed of green substances, the fermentation "will com- 

l mence in twenty-four hours after the heap is finished. If it is composed of 

I straw, or dry materials, it will commence in two or three days. The second 

< day after fermentation has commenced, it ordinarily attains from 100 to 120 de- 

^ grees of Fahrenheit ; a strong odor of litter escapes at that time, and if the 

I draining from the manure has nearly ceased, proceed to the first watering after 

I the following manner : 



Sec. 3. First Watering. 

Get on the heap, throw the top of it off, then, with a pointed bar of iron, 
make holes over the whole surface, about eight or ten inches apart, and three 
quarters of the depth of the heap, so that the watering which is to follow may 
reach all parts of the heap. 

This done stir well the lye ; then fill all these holes. We make this water- 
ing with buckets, or a pump, and as equally as possible. When the heap has 
been copiously watered, tread it down and stop up the holes ; then cover it 
again with the same materials which served for that purpose the first time. 
Ordinarily there is a sufficient flow of lye from the heap to effect this first 
watering ; still, if there should not be enough you can make it up with satu- 
rated water, which should be poured into the lye reservoir, at the bottom of 
which there will always remain sufficient matter to dissolve. 

The following plan represents the heap when the operator is in the act of 
making holes for the first watering : 

Fig. 7. 




Sec. 4. Second Watering. 

About the eighth or ninth day a strong smell of litter is perceived, the ismoke 
escapes from all sides ; we then proceed to a second watering, which should 
be done after the manner of the first. 

If there should not be enough of lye for this watering, it can be made up 
with saturated or other water. It would be useful in that case to add a little 
lime, and also a little of the other ingredients, if they should be on hand, but 
if not, do not omit to throw in some dung from the stables. This will much 
improve the Avater. 



J 




FOR MAKING MANURE. 19 ^ 

After the second watering, close again all the holes, and cover the heap as ;; 
before. <, 

Farmers who do not object to the labor, may turn the whole heap, that is, ^ 
before making the second watering, and when the fermentation has gone down, ^ 
they can tear the heap to pieces and reconstruct it immediately afterwards. In <; 
reconstructing it they should place in the middle those materials which v/ere -^ 
upon the sides and at the bottom. > 

Water each layer in the same manner as described for the construction of ^ 
the heap by irrigation. It should be observed here, that less lye is necessary ; 
than when the heap was first constructed, because the materials are already ; 
wet, and softened by the preceding watering and the fermentation ; and in pro- j 
ceeding thus you may shun also the second watering by holes. j 

From this operation two advantages result which are described in the section ^ 
of the second part of this Method. i, 

If the heap is composed of hard and ligneous materials, and such as you may ^ 
not care to take the trouble to turn, it would be well to cut off some five or six j 
inches of the outside, and throw it upon the top of the heap, to complete its ( 
decomposition. >■ 

This ought to be done immediately before the second watering, because the <, 
materials at the sides of the heap may then be easily cut. ^ 

For this purpose an old scythe blade, or any other cutting instrument, may I 
serve. ■ < 



Sec. 5. Third Watering. < 

On the eleventh or twelfth day a third watering should be effected, taking j 

care to make new holes, deeper than the first, and, as far as practicable, in '< 

other places, in order thoroughly to heat the heap by means of the lye, which ^ 

now ought to descend further down. i 

Again close the holes and cover the heap, after the operation. ^ 

I again repeat, that you should not spare the lye in the watering, inasmuch ^ 

as a superabundance of it can do no sensible harm, and too little may prevent ^ 

the complete decomposition of the materials. \ 

When the manure heap is made of straw, or green weeds, the fermentation ^ 

should be stopt at from 155 to 170 degrees of Fahrenheit. When it is of hard ^ 

) and ligneous substances, the fermentation should be suffered to raise to 200, or ^ 

/ 210 degrees. < 

> The fermentation may be arrested by a copious watering. i 

I Those who do not attain to these degrees of fermentation may rest assured, i 

\ that with a little more care in the manipulation, they will succeed better ia '. 

I subsequent operations, as they will then have the aid of a good leaven, and a j 

I well saturated and corrupted water. i 

{ Those who in fifteen days should not attain the degree above mentioned, ^ 

I should proceed to a new watering, after having made an addition of ingredients 

I to the lye, in order to repair the losses which they may have made for want 

of practice. 



-»"«. -.^■^,'V^>'<«'S>-K-53^'^i>>3'S?=<S'W'^'V 



20 eommer's method 

On the fifteenth day the manure heap is ready to be put in the ground, > 

especially in strong clayey soils, or for plants which are a long time in t^e I 

ground, but where you wish to apply it to light and sandy soils, it ought to f 

remain in the heap from seven to fifteen days longer. < 

After the last watering the fermentation stops little by little, and the manure ? 

heap may remain so for some time before being used. Yet, if it should have < 

remained a long while without being put in the ground, it should be again I 

watered to maintain it in its freshness. ^ 

You ought always to avoid, as much as possible, suffering the manure heap ^ 

to grow old, because, in such cases, the slow and prolonged fermentation < 

which it undergoes destroys a part of the fertilizing substance.* < 



* Persons who desire to know precisely the progress of the fermentation, can easily have 
an account of it by means of a thermometer buried entirely in the heaps, so that the bulb 
or base of the tube shall be fifteen or eighteen inches below the superfices of the heap. 



SECTION SECOND. 

VEGETABLE AND MINERAL COMPOST. ^ 

Article First. — Vegetable Compost or Mould. \ 

Sec. 1. First process by high fermentation. l 

Compose a lye in the manner described in the First Section, Article 5th, I 

6th, and 7th, but without the soot and salt, and increase the quantity of quick I 

lime one third. This lye being ready, take, I 

1st. About 4000 lbs. (2 tons) of grass, or any kind of weeds ; a variety of ^ 

them would be preferred. If green vegetables are not to be had, take about ^ 

2000 lbs. (1 ton) of straw, or dry vegetables. If these matters are ligneous \ 

or woody, cut them into lengths of about six inches. < 

2d. About 3000 lbs. of vegeto-mineral substance, that is to say, every spe- | 

cies of peat or mud from marshes or swamps, sods of turf from the breaking i 

up of pasturages ; in short, all similar materials of which the vegetable parts } 

predominate, whether in a soluble or insoluble state. > 

If these materials are very wet, expose them to the air until they become > 

nearly dry ; they will then form into clods, which divide into lumps about the ^ 

size of your fist. i 

The materials being thus prepared, you place the grate over the excavation ; t 

then spread over this grate some boughs, or long grass, until you have formed ' 

a layer six inches thick over the whole surface. This layer will prevent the ^ 

bottom of the grate from becoming obstructed by the small pieces into which j 

you have divided the materials named in No. 2 above. / 

This disposition being made, throw upon the grate the materials designated ' 

in No. 1 above. When the quantity has attained a thickness of about eight '/ 



i 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 21 

^^ inches, throw on it a layer of about six inches of the substances just cited in 
^ No. 2, and mix the two materials well together. When this is well done the 
I layer should be left as even as possible, and a copious watering of the lye should 
I be given. 

' After this place a second layer in the same manner, and water again very 
/ copiously with the lye ; then a third layer, and so continue until all your 
;■ materials are heaped up. \ 

\ When the heap is constructed cover it with straw or grass, and thus ends the \ 
'i first operation. > 

'> If you should have used straw, or dry vegetables, four waterings with lye \ 
\ will be required, and if you have used grass, or green vegetables, you need ^ 
\ only make three. \ 

'/ These waterings are made at mtervals of four days, and by holes, only these / 
I holes are made deeper, and closer together, than those described in the first l 
< section. i 



^ Article Second. — Vegetable Compost or Mould. 

\ Sec. 2. Second process, hy moderated fermentation. 

\ 1st. Take about 4,000 lbs. (2 tons) of short manure, which has been made 
after the process described in the first section. If this is not to be had, use 
short stable manure, or from the farm yard. 

2d. About 6,000 lbs. (3 tons) of vegeto-mineral substances, that is, mate- 
rials of the same nature as those mentioned in No. 2 of the preceding article. 
If these materials are very wet, and are formed into clods, proceed with them 
as described in the preceding article. 

The two species of materials being ready, commence by throwing a portion 
of either of the kinds of manure mentioned in No. 1 above, upon the grate 
or upon any other place of the farm ; throw there, also, at the same time a 
portion of one or the other, or many together of the materials cited in No. 2. 
Mix perfectly the two kinds, that is to say, the manure with the turfy sub- 
stances ; after which dispose of the whole in a bed of ten or twelve inches 
even in thickness ; then pour a full watering of the lye upon all the surface • 
afterwards place on this a second bed of the same depth, and in the same man- 
ner as the preceding ; water again copiously, then a third layer, and thus con- 
tinue until the materials are heaped up. This done, cover the heap with straw 
or hay. 

About the seventh or eighth day, vs^ater with the lye in the manner described 
] in the preceding article. 

The fifteenth day this compost may be used. If it should not be wanted for 
some months a third watering should be made a few days before usinff the 
compost. 

Article Third. — Vegeto-mineral Compost without fermentation. 

^ In the composition of the lye increase by one third the quantity of each in- 
gredient specified in the table. 






22 bommer's method 

Having prepared this lye, take about 4,000 lbs. (2 tons) of vegeto-mineral 
substances, that is, substances in which the mineral parts predominate, as 
marl, mud from rivers or the sea ; slime from ditches and low places ; black 
earth from the woods, dirt from roads, and all similar substances. If these 
materials are very wet, or formed into clods, they should be proceeded with as 
described in Article First, that is, dried and broken to pieces. 

These substances, thus prepared, are thrown in a fair proportion upon the 
excavation, (after having removed the grate,) or upon any other place, water- 
ing it well with the lye as you are so doing ; after which stir the mass with a 
long-handled dung-hook. During this stirring pour the water from time to 
time upon it, and when all is well stirred, well kneaded, and the mass has 
formed a thick mud, make it into loaves of 80 lbs. or 100 lbs. weight. Expose 
these loaves to the air in a covered place. 

Afterwards throw a second portion upon the place above mentioned, water 
it, stir it, knead it, form it into loaves, in the same manner as the preceding. 

Then work a third portion in the same way, and continue thus until all the 
materials shall be exhausted. When the loaves are dried pile them up in a 
covered place. 

Always, when various kinds and qualities of the materials above described 
can be obtained, such mixture should be employed in preference to a single 
species. 

If you can only procure a small quantity of the earthly matter, for the base 
of the above amendment, (or compost,) you can supply the deficiency by adding 
to it any light friable earth, and mixing them together, or if you have none of 
the materials in question you can act upon the earth alone. 

In this case it will be necessary to double the quantity of the ingredients for 
I the lye. 
^ This compost should be pulverized a few days before use. 

? I 

i Article Fourth. — Earth Manure. l 



This compost may be prepared in different manners. I will describe two 
processes, each of them very simple in their practice. 

Sec. 1. First Process. 

To convert about 4,000 lbs. of each into earth manure : 
> Compose a lye by doubling the ingredients specified in the table. This lye 
( is carried ready made upon the soil which you wish to manure. The earth is 

to be formed into heaps of about 2,000 lbs. (1 ton) at equal distances. 
'. A large opening is to be made in the top of the heap, and into this pour the 
< lye in quantity sufficient to moisten the mass of earth ; then close the opening 
s by throwing the dirt in from the sides. 

i When this earth manure is dry, before spreading stir and mix all parts of the 
5 heap well together, so as to render the whole mass equally fertilizing. 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 23 

Sec. 2. Second Process. 

Suppose that it is desired to manure an acre with the earth manure : 

Form with the earth of the field, and in the middle thereof, a heap running 
the length of the field, and from two to three feet high. This should be opened 
at the top through its whole length, and a sufficient quantity of the lye poured 
into the opening to moisten the entire mass of earth ; then fill up the opening 
from the sides. 

Some days after, this earth will he dry, when it may be used. 

Before spreading, it should be well mixed up, for the same purpose as men- 
tioned at the close of the preceding process. 

These vegetable and mineral composts are admirably adapted to natural or 
artificial meadows, to Indian corn, tobacco, and to gardens. 

They may be prepared in advance, and will keep for a long while without 
losing their quality. 

It will be seen that these various modes of manufacturing composts, offer 
advantages which are not possessed by any mode heretofore known ; not only 
are they superior, since they unite all the means of fertilization, but furthermore 
they are terminated in a few days instead of a year. 

The public must acknowledge the superiority of composts which have been 
made by means of lye, and humid fermentation, over those which have been 
prepared dry, a defective old practice which should disappear for ever. For 
they have already remarked, without doubt, that the principal points which 
constitute this method, are not only to have united divers materials which here- 
tofore were employed alone and isolated, and, by this union, to have composed 
a manure superior to those known, but further to have fabricated these manures 
by means of waterings, or soakings made with a fertilizing liquid and new 
composition. 

Every one will readily conceive, that by the use of a fluid mixture, the fusion, 
or breaking down of the materials, will be promoted ; that while on the one 
hand they present mutual points of resistance, on the other they yield mutual 
supports ; like lime and soot, which loose just enough of their acrid and cor- 
rosive qualities not to destroy a single particle of the vegetable humus, whilst 
with dry composts it is impossible to obtain like results. 

As to the ingredients of the lye, which ought to predominate in the prepara- 
tion of composts, and their appropriation to the various soils and plants, see 
Section First, Article 3, 4, 6, 7, of the second part of the Method. 



THIRD SECTION. 

MEANS TO AUGMENT AND AMELIORATE MANURE HEAPS. 
Preparation of a fertilizing liquid for waterings — Employment of dregs, 

LEES, and residues OF DISTILLERIES AND MANUFACTORIES — To REVIVE GARDEN 
BEDS WITHOUT CHANGING THE LITTER. 

Article First. — Means to augment and ameliorate manure heaps. 
i I will suppose that we are to prepare, according to this method, a ton of 



j 24 bommer's method 

straw, or two tons of green vegetables, which are to produce four tons of good 

manure ; and that, on the other hand, we have four tons (more or less) of 

J manure from cattle, and we wish to unite the two, and add a large quantity of 

^ the earthy substances cited in No. 2 of Article 1 of the preceding section, or 

I of those mentioned in Article 3 of the same section, which, in fifteen days, 

ouo-ht to be converted into an excellent mould. 

Upon the excavation mentioned before, put some manure prepared after the 
process described in the first section, forming a bed of from twelve to eighteen 
inches thick ; then add layer upon layer of the earthy substances above said, 
and when the last layer has attained the height of about six inches, we put on 
it a bed, or layer of cattle manure, afoot or eighteen inches in height. 

Continue thus until the heap has attained a height of seven or ten feet ; this 
done, holes are to be made in the same manner as has been before mentioned ; 
then through these holes water copiously with the lye ; afterwards cover the 
heap in the manner already indicated. 

Make three or four waterings subsequently, at intervals of three or four days 
from each other. You will perceive here that the expenditure of lye is incon- 
siderable, and that the fifteenth or twentieth day terminates the operation. 

The same operation may be realized without the mixture of the litter manure, 
and with that which is made after this method. You can act upon litter manure 
alone, and by means of waterings ameliorate old manure heaps, and equally 
obtain a mould. 

The earthy substance which has been mixed with the manure will be found 
converted into a black mould, and very fertilizing. 

You will find, by this operation, that you have at least doubled your quantity 
of manure in weight and quality ; that the two species of manure have been 
ameliorated, and that you have obtained, in addition, a mould of the first 
quality ; and that by the mixture of these manures you have produced for 
subsequent operations a leaven of manure which is still better, because these 
leavens become always, with time, of a superior quality, especially if you 
should have placed, in the middle of the heap, rotten fish, or spoiled provisions 
of any kind ; for these materials dissolve in a few days into a valuable juice, 
by the force of the lye and fermentation, which leaves no traces of them but 
the bones. 

It is much to be desired that the farmer should overcome his repugnance to 
making use of dead animals, and other feculant substances, which he may have 
on his farm, and which he now frequently neglects, not thinking how great an 
advantage it would be to him to employ them in this manner. He should 
suffer nothing to be lost on his farm ; nothing is small in farming ; the most 
trifling details have their importance, and it is in this true economy is shown. 

Article Second. — Means to prepare " Purin,''^ a fertilizing liquid for watering. 

In farms which are well kept there is a ditch or cistern, which receives the 
purin which flows from the stables, the farm-yards, and the manure heaps. 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 25 

This precious liquid, always in too small quantity to satisfy our desires, is 
employed to water the manure heap, and afterwards the meadows. 

I I do not deny its good effects ; on the contrary, I will say, that it is our 
desire to obtain it in larger quantities, and to give it a more fertilizing and 

* durable action. 

> Although I have always acknowledged that it is more advantageous to fix 
this liquid in the ground, or to make it serve for the fabrication of composts, 
which is demonstrated in the third section article third, of the second 
part, I have nevertheless made experiments to arrive at an easy means to 

> augment, and also to create this liquid manure at will, and improve its fertili- 
I zing quality, to enable persons who wish to continue this system to receive 

more profit than formerly. 
I This plan consists simply in the employment of the lye of this method, to 
which is added a certain quantity of water, and of the flowings from a manure 
heap. 

For the preparation of one hundred barrels of this purin, use the various 
substances which enter into the composition of the lye, in double the quantities 
indicated in the table ; then add ten barrels of the drainings from a manure 
heap made after this method, or, for want of that, take twelve or fifteen barrels 
of the flowings from ordinary manure. 

These various substances are mixed together in the manner already indi- 
cated, after which add eighty-five or ninety barrels of saturated water, if you 
have it, if not, pure water must answer. 

Stir all the mass while you are adding this water, so as to produce a com- 
plete mixture, and cause the dissolution of all the materials. 

It would be well to suffer this liquor to ferment for twelve or fifteen days ; 
notwithstanding, if you are hurried, it can be used with success in about four 
or five days. 

The manrier of watering with this urine is known every where. You can 
use for this purpose a large hogshead, placed upon a cart, with the hole in the 
rear ; opposite to this hole is placed a board a little inclined, and when the 
plug which closes the hole is taken out, the liquid strikes with force against the 
board, and spouting from all sides it spreads equally enough over a good space 
i of ground. 

As this liquid is more or less thick, it is necessary to give the vent which 
discharges it a diameter of at least one inch ; and for the same reason, in order 
to facilitate the refilling of the hogshead, you should make the opening at the 
bung hole about ei^ght inches square. 

I recommend this liquid to be well stirred in the reservoir every time the 
hogshead is filled, so that the thick parts may not remain at the bottom. 

It is better to make these waterino;s towards night. 

This operation being practical upon leguminous plants, it would be very 
advantageous to make the lime, and especially the plaster of paris, predominate 
in the composition of the liquid, and in place of doubling these two ingredients, 
I 



i — 






^ 26 bommer's method 

\ as it is advised above, you triple the quantity of the lime, and quadruple that j 

^ of the plaster of paris. ] 

[ 

\ Article Third. — To employ the dregs or lees, and residue of distilleries and \ 

j manufacturies. \ 

I < 

\ All lees, and residues of distilleries, and manufactories, can be reduced to \ 

\ manure by this method. > 
This is done by mixing them with the vegetables, and passing the whole \ 

X through the lye. \ 

\ As the manner of operating is contained in, and grows out of the preceding, \ 

'f it would be superfluous in me to enlarge upon ihe mode of reducing these | 

'' materials to manure ; yet, as most part of the residues are not manure of ihcm- I 

'/ selves, and they only become so as a retainer of the lye, and ammoniacal gas < 

'/ developed in the fermen'ation, I ought to recommend the employment of those \ 

\ materials in their just proportions ; that is to say, if you desire lo act upon ] 

\ two tons of vegetable, you should not add to them more than two tons of > 

'/ organic residues ; as, for example, tan, or the lees of apples from a cider mill; ( 

^ because the most part of the residues have been deprived of their salts, alkalies, \ 

'/, and fermenting pioperties, by the anterior operations, and are nothing more \ 

j than inert bodies. It is natural, then, that unless you employ a very great ( 

\ portion, the fermenting power contained in the vegetables will not be strong \ 

>i enough to raise a degree of heat sutFicient to decompose the materials, or to \ 

'i enrich them with the gases developed in the fermentation. If the residues are >' 

'i inorganic, or if they are in a liquid state, you will throw them in the reservoir \ 

'/ of saturated water. < 



\ 



Article Fourth. — Hot-beds for early gardening. — Mode of reviving the heat 
under the beds, without changing the litter. 



'j Gardeners, whose lively interest it is to produce early crops, and consequently 

\ to produce properly graduated manure for their restoranls, and to revive the 

^ heat under their beds without changing the litter, should proceed as follows : 

; So as not to wet the bed in which the seeds are sown, and which you may not 

\ care to have wet, pour on the lye from time to time, and about a foot apart, by 

\ means of a funnel, whose point should rest upon the ground after having pene- 

^ trated into the litter. 

I Before introducing the funnel into the earth, you should take care <o fill up 

^ the tube with a plug, which should project about an inch beyond the eiid of 

\ the tube. 

\ Concerning the sides of the beds, you should always have warm manure 

\ made after this method, in order to reanimate the exterior of the hot-beds. 

\ It is here that manure of a high gradation is necessary, since the fruits are 

> wanted in advance of the seasons. 



r 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 27 



END OF THE FIRST PART OF THE METHOD. 




< In the preparation of their manures gardentrs ought to employ largely the i 

I remains of animals. j 

\ They will reap great advantage from placing, in the middle of their manure ; 

I heap, spoiled fish, dead animals, refuse fat, and the like. The more these / 

^ parts predominate, in alliance with other materials which compose the i 

} lye, the more they will yield to the manure essi ntial qualities, which rapidly :; 

i develope all the stages of a vigorous and precocious vegetation. ^ 

I Gardeners residing near large cities, not practising the economy of the far- ( 

i mers, will, by the aid of this method, obtain results which will surpass their (, 

[ hopes. It is with this juice of the manure heap, or pure leaven, that thev j 

i water their hot-beds, to maintain a constant heat without changing the litter. ^ 

I When they shall have placed in their manure heaps the remains of animals :! 

I of which we have spoken, they should not omit to give to it three or four \ 

j waterings, or more, after the fifteenth day ; that is to say, after the manure is ^ 

? made. > 

The purpose of these waterings is to extract all the " leaven" for the em- ) 

> ployment of it on the hot-beds of early vegetables. They should preserve I 
' this leaven in their hogsheads, after having, previous to covering them, thrown I 
'/ in a few pounds of quick lime, and a little powdered charcoal, to render the < 

> leaven inodorous. 



\ PART SECOND. 

\ \ 

< EXPLANATION AND ANALYTICAL DEVELOP.MENT OF THE SYSTEM — SOLU- '> 
\ TION OF MANURE QUESTIONS, AND SUPPLEMENTARY ARTICLES WHICH I 
\ RESULT FROM THIS SYSTEM* i 



SECTION FIRST. 

> 

1 . Vegetable, compared to animal manure. \ 

2. Fermentation. \ 

3. Appropriation of the Bommer manure to various soils^ I 

4. Appropriation of Bommer manure to different plants. \ 

5. Solution of the problem put by Payen, the celebrated chemist. ^ 

6. Food of plants, and of what they aie composed. ^ 

7. Vegetable metempsycosis, or transmutation of a dead into a living vegetable. \ 

8. Economy. \ 

Article First. — Vegetable, compared to animal manure. \ 

Question. The title of your method says, that your " vegetable manure is \ 

as good, and more durable than cattle manure ;" yet it is acknowledged that \ 

cattle manure is the true natural manure, and consequently the most proper \ 

\ for the nourishment of the soil and plants. I should then think, that since the ^ 

\ animal principle only comes in as an element of the leaven in your liquid \ 

i combinations, and in a small quantity, you have your manure composed almost '/ 

j entirely of vegetables. Now, it seems to me, that since your vegetable manure ^ 

i contains but little azote, it would be inferior to cattle manure, which contains \ 

\ a large quantity. What say you ? \ 

Reply. Animal manure, properly so called, and according to the most com- i 

men expression, is nothing more than a reunion of mucilaginous substances, \ 

decomposed by the ammonia which abounds in the animal kind, and which by '> 

fermenlation becomes, in a few weeks, an unctious pulrefac;ion. As are the '> 

manures of cattle, so would also be hay or straw decomposed by urine, by \ 

I horse dung, and by feculant materials, if they should be applied in combination, \ 

^ * In order to render it perfectly clear, and within the reach of the meanest capacity, I i 

i have given the explanation of this method in the form of an agricultural dialogue, in which < 

\ the advantages resulting from its use are developed, and seme questions in regard to rhanure / 

] treated. Chemists, and other gentlemen of science, who may find in this work some pas- ^ 

] sages which to them may not have the merit of novelty, should take into consideration that ;j 

i it is designed for practical men, to whom the plough does not give time to undertake a T 

I courje of chemistry, or to study the treaises of our celebrated agricultural writers. \ 



( eommer's method, etc. 29 

/ ^_^^_^^^ 

I in proportions sufficient to cause their fermentation and putrefaction in a sea- 

;■ sonable time. Such is the common definition given by chemists to animal 

i manure. 

I We "vvill now examine, by sound reasoning, and endeavor to discover 

■' which of the two manures are richer in fertilizing substances, and see which 

< presents the most advantages to agriculture ; whether it be the manure 
J from cattle, or that which is made after this method. 

< Cattle manure, uniforndy decomf;osed, is excellent in its primitive slate ; 
!' that is to say, when fresh. Put into the earth in this state it will in general 
. produce a good result. But every body knows the obstacles which are opposed 
^ to the application of cattle manure in a fresh state, and they know also that 
^ such a system would be impracticable upon farms. 

i Cattle manure is only obtained little by little, and it follows, 

< 1st. That its decomposition is always unequal and imperfect. 

I 2d. Put into a heap, as it is taken from the stables and farm-yard, where it 
is suffered to remain from one season to another, putting layer after layer of 

> vegetables upon it ; trampled upon by the cattle, as is the custom on most 
'( farms, this manure, by the slow and prolonged fermentation which it under- 
^ goes by evaporation, the washing of rains, and di-ying of the sun, will sustain 
^ a loss of fertilizing substances which can hardly be calculated at Jess than one 

half. 
j You have, then, on one hand, its insufficiency, and, on the other, deteriora- 
/ tion ; from whence it results that this manure is but a small help to agriculture, 
\ whilst our vegetable manure is not subniitted to these inconveniences, its pro- 

> duction not depending upon cattle. 



^ 



Seel. First adcantage of the Bommer manure over that of Cat/Ie. 

After this method, any one may manufacture his manures at will, at any time 
he may want it, instead of obtaining it little by little from cattle, and suffering 
it to deteriorate in the air, or by an unlimited fermentation which produces the 
same effects as combustion, and leaves only some earthly residues for its salt. 

He may with certainty regulate his manures, that is to say, he may render 
them equally good, in all their parts, by means of the lye, which distributes its salts 
to its soluble parts in a regular and uniform manner; it produces an equal crop '^ 
in all parts of the field, whilst to this day, farm manure, being unequal in qua- \ 
lity, some portion of the crop are poor, and others good, in the same ground. ; 

By the copious waterings of the manure with our lye, the heap is kept ', 
from becoming white, or mouldering, because an equal moisture is main- '/ 
tained in all its parts, forming a soft and blackish mass in M'hich one part does ^^ 
not depend upon the other for either ahment or moisture, as is the case with < 
cattle manure. I 

You can make manures much more durable in the earth, than those I 
which you bring, or which are made with the aid of cattle. | 

You are aware that different substances, which are decomposed slowly and ^ 



3D bommer's method. 



successfully, having been intimately mixed together, and disvnited by a liquid, 

are bound to form various aggregates, which the earth can only decompose slowly 

and in succession. 

You may destroy, by a short, but lively and rapid fermentation, the germs 

of weeds, which always infest the materials of which nianure is ccmpcsfd. 
This method gives rules for the composition of manures ; it says to you — 
I take so many parts of animal matter, so much salt, so much alkali, which may 
I vary according to the soil and the plants you are cultivating : with it, the in- 
'< conveniences resulting from the employmi-nt of cattle manure, can no longer 
', present themselves. Thus, the vegetable manure should be better than that ? 
i of cattle, if you so desire it. '/ 

i Sec. 2. Second Advantage. ^ 

^ If the cattle manure contains more azote than our vegetable manure, ours ;! 



'\ contain more carbon, a principle still more necessary to plants than azote, as 

^ carbon supplies the main structure of all vegetables. 

i Well, carbon predominates in our manure, and our lye renders it soluble, by 

^ a regulated fermentation, which it engenders in the mass of vegetaldes, and 

^ when the woody body becomes soluble by fermentation, the plant which is ma- 

;; nured by it, feeds upon this carbonaceous substance, through its nutritive organs. 
< If I wished imposing authorities to support me in this, I would cite Sir Hum- I 

I phrey Davy, the celebrated chemist, who says, page 280, of his treatise upon > 

't the art of preparing lands — " No substance is more necessary to vegetables than \ 

i carbon, it ought to be dissolved in order to penetrate their organs " Thus, '/ 

I the manure -which you administer to plants, should contain carbon rather than ;; 

;; azote, because plants, by their leaves, have no difficulty in imbibing azote from < 

'/ the air, which contains a large quantity of it, but very little carbonic acid gas. ^ 
/ ? 

;! Sec. 3. Third Advantage. i 

^ If I have said, at the ofFstart, that our vegetable manure is as good as cattle I 

j manure, it was, that 1 might not be exposed to the charge of exaggeration, by / 

I those who could not have proved it. But, in truth, in declaring that our vege- ;; 

^ table manure is superior to cattle manure, I would but obey my convictions, j 

j because its effects in the ground has always been superior, and I here give i 

ithe causes of its great power. 
By the mixture of the materials which enter into the composition of our lye, 
the w^ater, the heaped vegetables, the high fermentation, &c., there is produced 

^ a large quantity of the nitrate of lime, caustic potash, ammonia and saltpetre; 

> four principles, known by chemists as the most active manure which exists. 
;! In regard to the first two materials, learned chemists have often analzyed the 

^ lye, and they have found that the first two prevailing principles which it con- 

l tained, were niti'ate of lime and caustic potash. 

/ You may ask me, how are these two principles formed in my lye .■* But 
I will not undertake to say, I fear that I might be led astray. Nothing is 



FOR MAKING MANURE. , 31 ', 

more mysterious than the secrets employed by nature in her combinations. All \ 

\ that I know positively, (and it is the most necessary to knew) is the fact. \ 

^ Asto the two other materials, it is easy to conceive that ammonia and salt- I 

^ petre should be found in our manure, in larger quantities than in ordinary farm ' 

'> manure — in fact ammonia being composed of azote and hydrogen, can form itself ' 

) into a heap of manure. U is easy to judge, by the simple disposition of my heap, I 

'/ raised above the soil six or ten feet, that the azote of the surroundin"- air '> 

/ which is found in circulation in a heap of manure not matured, that is to say ', 

\ before the sinkage produced by fermentation, is not deficient in my operation \ 

\ since the air contains 79 per cent of azote. On the other hand, as water \ 

^ contains a large quantity of hydrogen, this is no more deficient than the azote t 

\ since my waterings are floods — from thence it seems to nie that ammonia forms <. 

] in quantities, after a lively and rapid fermentation of different ve"-etable \ 

\ bodies and mineral salts, put into contact with volumes of hydroo-en and \ 

\ nitrogen, which gases, besides, are found in quantities, not only in the air and \ 

\ water, but they compose alarge part of the vegetables and minerals themselves, \ 

$ and especially green vegetables, which recent studies of our (htmistshave dis 



Yoa see the reason why, when I stir my heap, it disengnges an ammoniacal 
smell much stronger than stable manure, even when I do not employ feculant 
or animal materials. 

It is impossible, with a fermentation of 160 to 210 degrees of Fahrenheit, and 
the collection of a la ge body of fermentous materials, and a considerable 
volume of surrounding air, and water, that it should not form much ammonia. 

The production of saltpetre is explained in the 6th chapter, upon "artifi- 
cial niters." 

I hope that these data will enlighten you upon the causes which dve streno-th 
to my manure, and enable you to render an account of its effects upon the 
ground, when you can employ it. 

Sec. 4. Fourth Advantage. 

All fixrmers accord in arranging into two distinct classes the various means 
of amsliorating lands, or of repairing the exhaustion which improvident culti- 
vation has produced. These are, 

First — Manures. 

Second — Amendments. 

Amendments are, in many causes, very proper to sustain the vegetation of 
plants, because not only vegetation consumes the manure, which will insure its 
prosperity, but it also exhausts those mineral substances, which, although 
spread in the soil in small proportions, are not the less sustainers of the life, 
the sap, or the luxurinnt growth of plants. It is for this purpose that people 
have introduced marl, lime, plaster, salt, &c., upon their farms ; afterwards, 
the product of vegetables decomposed by fire, as potash, soda, soot, ashes, &c. 

But these substances are always employed without interniixlure, although 



^ covered to contam azote. ^ 



; 32 bommer's method 

< ^^^_^ „„,,^,.,.,^^ ^ 

;; most plants, for their success, and the most part of soils for their fertility, de- i 

/ manded their mixture, and their decomposition. '( 

f But if the mixture of these mineral substances in the soil produces a good j 

I result, how much could we improve all our lands by a composition uniting manure I 

'f with the substances which constitute the amendment, especially in proportions / 

'i suitable to the wants of the various soils and plants. / 

? Without doubt, this composition, skilt'uUy combined, will become the ne plus \ 

\ ultra of the amelioration of lands, since it at once unites all the means of ;; 

'> stimulating and fertilizing the soil. '/ 

\ Well, such is the composition of my vegetable manure, and such are its '' 

\ effects, although without cattle, because, in effect, my manures contain, inde- > 

] pendently of the manure which is furnished by the feculent material, as animal \ 

] decomposition, all the mineral amendments that you have seen in the table, \ 

\ and that you have judged useful to plants, since, in your agricultural experience, i 

^ you have already employed either the one or the other. Is it not so .'' ^ 

\ Resuming your question. 1 believe that 1 have sufficiently demonstrated to \ 

\ you that my vegetable manure is not inferior to cattle manure, but that, on the \ 

^ contrary, it is superior, seeing that it contains principles of fecundity which ', 

'] cattle manure does not possess ; that it is more natural than cattle manure, \ 

'> since air, water, vegetables and minerals, are the base of its fabrication, and [ 

'i these, are the substances which nature has designed for the nourisl ment of \ 

) plants, rather than urine, and the dung of animals. \ 

/ i 

t I 

] Article Second. — Fermentation. I 

/ < 

\ . \ 

] Question. The title of your method assumes, also, that any one can make '/ 

'/ your vegetable manure by fermentation in fifteen days, and according to the ^ 

'/ nature of every farm, and every family of plants. Now, to appropriate my ^ 

\ manure to such or such kind of soil, or to such or such plants, should it ferment \ 

', much, little; or not at all, hov/ should I do .' ;! 

J An5?wer. This is the gravest question that 3-ou could make upon the ;; 

\ subject of manures, and of a A-erity, without the aid of my method 1 would ;; 

' r;ot permit myself to treat upon a subject \^ hich has been discussed and debated ^ 

^ by the most celebrated agriculturalists without any definite result. One says, '/ 

\ yes, it should be fermented ; the other says, no, it should not be fermented. ^ 

\ I, apart from my new principle, to vary the manures, to manufacture it either ^ 

;; without fermentation, or with fermentation, graduated according to the soil ;; 

] and plants, say yes and no. In the arts, the middle course is sometimes the ^ 

'/ only good way. Perhaps I may approach nearer to the truth than all the '/ 

'i others who have treated upon this matter. t 

'>. English authors, French, German, and others, who have treated upon this > 

\ question, not only in theory, but in practice, have all given facts, wiihout ;; 

; ever having analyzed the kind of earth where they had buried the manures, { ■ 

', fresh or decomposed, and equally without having announced what were the < 

;; plants to which they had administeied it. Even then the question is new. \ 

5 ; 



! FOR MAKING MANURE. 

It has been discussed, and even disputed with violence, and every one has 
doubted of the truth up to this moment, seeing that the veil which covers it 
has never yet been lifted. I will quote the words of the greatest farmers, and 
you will pardon me a little longer in consideration of the importance of the 
subject. 

0PI3N"I0N OF AUTHORS. 

An intelligent farmer, Mr. Pictet, expresses himself in these terms in 
Young's Annals : 

" I have always been in the practice of throwing the fresh manure from the 
stables into a heap, and not carrying it into the fields until after it shall have J 
become decomposed. I began to doubt that this practice could augment its ! 
value. I had not doubted, for a long while, that it had lost in quantity, and 
that I had been at an increased expense. The first essay that I made of the 
application of fresh njanure succeeded so well, that I not only resolvc-d to \ 
abandon an old practice, but I also found a nun.ber of imitators amongst my \ 
neighbors, who, convinced by the evidence of the results, had not employed, 5' 
as much as they might, their manure when fresh. An experience of more i 
than seven years has convinced me of this truth, that it is profitable to employ \ 
manures as soon as they are taken from the stables." \ 

The principal !■ nglish and Scotch farmers consulted upon this subject, by \ 
Mr. De Knol)elsdorf, in the last few years, were unanimous. It is decided, \ 
they all say', by theory, as well as by practice, that manure, applied before fer- 5 
mentation, as it is making itself, with the mixture of excrements with litter, S 
better manures soil destined ior all kinds of grain, and leguminous plants, and \ 
that its immediate application prevents the loss of more than one fourth of the 
mass. 

The excellent practical farmer Schmaltz is of the same opinion, in his work I 
entitled, " Observations dans le domaine de Veconomie rurale." He expresses 1 
himself thus : 

" Manure much consumed, compared to that which has just entered into its 
decompo.'iition, loses a large portion of its volume. It is difficult to spread it 
well, as it requires so much labor and care to separate it, and there are no 
means of insuring its equal division. I have always been struck in observing \ 
the very sensible effects attending manures the least consumed. When, for ; 
example, there has bt-en put upon a field eight cart loads of very rich short 
manure entirely rotten, and to another of the same size only six cart loads of 
the same weight of fresher manure, but not so broken, not only the products of i 
the second were very often much better, but the manure was more durable in j 
its effects, although the six cart loads of fresh manure would have made but | 
five if it had been left to rot further. This observation I have not made only 
upon particular soils, but upon all kinds of lands. However, it was generally i 
more evidsnt in favor of manure a little consumed, upon heavy than upon 
light and iriabl.3 lands. The eftect of manures thus applied v/as especially 
mark^'d upon products which did not immediately follow the manuring." 

Sir Ham,)hr3y Davy, Martin, Puvis, and others, are of the same opinion as 




BOMMER S METHOD 



Schmaltz, director of the royal institution of Wi rtemberg. There are only 
I a very few authors of a contrary opinion, but almost all farmers do not 
I desire their manure to be very rotten ; that is to say, science and intelligent 
\ practice are at complete variance with the popular practice. What is more, 
\ whoever would undertake to persuade a farmer that manure much deccmjosed 
^ was not worth as much as that which has just come froiii the siable, and which 
\ is almost whole, would be taxed with folly. 

\ MY OPINION. 

\ Well, it would be boldness in me to condemn either the one or the other. 

t Each is a little wrong, each has some reason upon his side. It goes to show 

s that nothing is absolute in arts, and that the present method is the master key, 

J by the help of which each one can enter the domains of reality. ; 

> It is then shown, that one desires fresh manure, and the other old. Who '■ 
? will undertake to reconcile all these opinions without relying upoli this method ? 

^ But see a remark which has never been produced ; it is, that in the exami- 

< nation of the question, should one ferment his manures ? they do not draw a 
i line of demarcation between manures that are fermented and those which are 
I not. Thus, one may think proper to call that manure fresh which is just 

> drawn from under the cattle. But have a care ; this manure is already fer- 
i mented, and often much fermented. It in some measure resembles that which 
\ is produced in my heap in about fifteen days ; you may call this manure fresh, 
\ but you should say " warm," for the man who extracts it is surrounded by a 
\ thick smoke. Now, certainly, this manure, ploughed in this state, is excellent, 
I and that is not at all surprising. The litter, enclosed in a warm stable, watered 
i by the urine of cattle, when exposed to the air, will ferment rapidly in a few 

> days ; the more so that the cows and horses, in laying down upon it, commu- 
i nicate heat to the litter from the surface of their bodies, which are in contact 
i with it. Thus, that is not //es/t manure, it is matured manure. It is certainly 
i less advanced than that which remains in a state of fermentation in the barn 

< yard for six months, but it is such as it generally should be for extensive 

< farming. 

I Therefore has the question not been properly put, either by learned or by 

i practical men Before you can know whether fresh manure is preferable to 

I fermented manure, it is necessary to commence by defining the two kinds of 

i manure, in order to compare them. For want of this previous definition, this 

I point has been discussed for an age without its being cleared up, without having 

^ advanced even a single step. 

i According to my view the question should be thus put : " Ought the elements 

< of manure to be ploughed in before having been attacked by fermentation r" 
^ or " should you plough them in their natural state ?" Then had the question 
I been defined, and the opinions of cultivators explained, because it should have 
S rested upon incontestibie facts ; and I add, that it was the only means to dis- 
l cover, by experience, if it was more useful, and more economi'^al, to cover in 
'/ ths elemants of manure in their natural state, or after having been fermented. 



i 



i 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 




^ The solutioa of this point is of great interest, but this solution -will always be 

i relative, that is to say, according to the climate, the nature of the soil, and of 

i the plants. 

i 1 will say, then, to those authors whose words I have cited, and who are ^ 

^ for the employment of fresh, manures, as well as to the others who are for | 

s having them much decomposed, you are all misled in proclaiming for truth the ( 

I specious facts announced by you. You chemists proclaim principles which j 

I appear to be Avell founded, and which perhaps are so in theory, but you do not J 

\ occupy youiselves with their execution. And it is because this execution is i 

i difficult in practice, that almost all agriculturists are for having their manures < 

\ matured. 1 hus, go to any farmer who desires to convert his corn^lalks, or '; 

j other hard and ligneous bodies, and say to him that fermentation is dangerous \ 

'i in this way, that it will cause the loss of a part of the elements of manure, 

■; this man will listen to you, then he will smile in saying : " Try then to make | 

', me manure out ot substances as hard as wood, without the aid of fermentation. \ 

'i You Siiy, that 1 will lose, in causing these vegetables to ferment ; that is pos- 

'i sible, but at least the greater part of them will be converted into soluble manure, 

I whilst in this state, with your principles, these vegetables are useless, and 1 ; 

\ lose ali. And if you talk to me of straw manure, (from litter,) would you | 

^ that everyday it should be taken out from the stable and carried into the field, \ 

[ especially when it is not the season to cover in manure .'' How prevent the ;; 

\ in'^vitable fermentatinn which developes itself, if I put it into a heap, or the j 

'i maceration, every bit as destructible, if I should spread my stable manure upon \ 

\ the ground ?" | 

\ What reply have you to make, gentlemen chen.ists, to this strong argument } \ 
>) There is more or less loss — without doubt, chemistry is right — but this > 

'i science does not teach us to make it better. The straw itself, when it has not 

'i been broken down by fermentation, cannot be used. I maintain, then, that J 

'i fermentation makes it lose still more than chemists are willing to allow is ', 

\ indispensible to break down and disorganize the vegetable body, at least m \ 

\ general, for their are some particular cases where fermentation will not be | 

\ necessary, and where all authors are in the right. \ 

{ It is certain, that in soils which we call " voracious," nothing will be better >, 

'i than simply watering this barn-yard straw with a good lye of the method, | 

\ and then ploughing it in, without previous fermentation. But, saving this . 

) particular case, fermentation is indispensable, as it is a substitute for the mas- \ 

\ tication of animal food. , \ 

j Thus, in resuming, we have, on one side, almost all the learned men, and \ 

\ on the other, all the practical farmers. Science is right in principle — farmers > 

\ are right in practice. As I am of the opinion of neither one nor the other, it < 

I may seem dangerous to put forth my principles, but I only do so in obedience \ 

\ to my convictions. \ 

\ Article Third. — Application of my manure according to various earths. 
\ 1st. Have you a light earth } warm .'' sandy } voracious ? Do not ferment 



i 



I 36 eomaier's method ;; 

I the vegetables, especially if they should be green, but before covering them in / 

\ try to break them, and water them with my lye. If the earth is only light, ^ 

\ witliout being voracious, employ the manure, much decomposed, so as to unite ^ 

I the soil. j 

I 2d. Should your ground be cold or clayey, ferment by my process for a ^ 

I month, if you employ ligneous vegetables, or other hard bodies ; and only for i 

i fifteen days, if you should use nothing but straw or grasses. Make four water- ] 

^ ings of the lye for ligneous bodies, and only three for straw and herbaceous 'i_ 

'i vegetables. ^ 

J 3d. Should your soil be intermediate between ihe two kinds which I have , 

\ mentioned, that is to say, is it half sandy and half clayey, approaching a free ;: 

^ soil, ferment the vegetables a little less than for cold grounds. ' 

\ 4th. If 3'our soil is calcarious, or if you have previously used lime upon it, ^ 

> as is the custom of many farmers, you cannot ferment it too much, because '/ 

\ the lime contained in the soil will assist in the decomposition of the materials < 

'> c \ 

} of manure. j 

f 5th. If your soil is deprived of limestone, push forward the fermentation, \ 

\ and double the lime, or triple it, in the composition of the lye. > 

\ 6th. In all soils where the ordinary manures develope weeds and noxious \ 

[ plants, you should give a vigorous strength to the fermentation, in order to > 

\ destroy the germs ot the seeds. These are my principles. ^ 

\ I now come to the exceptions which I make to the five rules given above- ^ 

\ 1st. I have said that for light, warm, sandy, or voracious earths, ycu ought ^ 

< not to ferment the vegetables, especially if they are green ; but for that, for \ 
\ such lands, it is necessary to put in the manure before winter, in order that ;; 

< the ligneous bodies may have time to soften and to fernjent by the aid of the i 
\ rains of that season. Thus, this rule, which I believe to be good in most 'f 
\ cases, would be worth •nothing to the gardener. To him I would say, always j 
\ have old manure for the soil of which 1 speak; prepare it in advance. Old ^ 
I manure contains less ammonia, but in compensation it contains more salts, and ;! 
\ this rich manure will unite a light earth ; it will be good also as an amend- > 
( ment ; it will diminish the porosity of a soil which is too accessible to the \ 
^ influences of the air, and which dries too quick. On the other side, this rich '/ 
\ and old manure, by means of the salts which it contains, and which attracts 't 
; and preserves its moisture, will keep the roots of the plants in a state of fresh- \ 
'f ness very favorable to the prompt development of the plant. But if 3-ou are a ^ 
] cultivator of grain, it is evident that you ought to choose manure of longer '^ 
\ duration, because you sow in autumn. Now, in the spring, when your plants \ 
'> shall want nourishing principles, to operate for the reproduction of the grain, '/ 
f (a phenomenon m which nature developes all her forces,) the plant will have '/ 
\ the facility to draw in, from a slowly dii>solving manure, the elements of which \ 
'f they stand in need. \ 
'/ 2d. I have said, in the second place, that for cold or clayey grounds you ;! 
'/ ought to cause a high degree of fermsntation for ligneous materials ; the rea- \ 
\ son is, that a compact earth will never have enough warmth to digest, easily 




/ FOR MAKING MANURE. 37 J 

^ and promptly, the nourisLment which you ccnhign to it. I know wt^Il, that I 
< what is called fresh manuie, or litile fennenttd, such as occupies a hirge { 
J volume, but of little weight, is exactly suited lo soils which have ntedof •' 
; being divided. I know very wcU, that where this long manure has been held^ ^ 
'/ in a compact soil, it should divide the clay, and |.ejniit the air lo penetjale it- I 
I but, on the other hand, it may happen that this long manure, liitle feimrntcd, ; 
j will decompose, but with great difficulty, and (hat it will not l,e profitable to ; 
;; the crop upon which it is cast. The manure will not be entirely lost to the r 
i second crop, because the summer sun completes the work, and rei^ders this < 
j; manure soluble for the next second crop ; but, in the meanwhile, a part of the \ 
/ carbon will volatilize, and your first crop will only have given sli<rht products. ^ 
I The difficulties are so grave, that I have not hesitated to choose for cold and f 

< clayey grounds, manures reasonably decomposed. At the same time, I admit ^ 
;; of some exceptions, remarking that I am not in glaring contradiction to the ^ 
i g'-neral opinion of farmers, because what they call fresh manure, or manure l 
^ such as it comes from the stables, is manure very near like that of my method i 
^ after fifteen days fermentation. Thus, for spring sowing, do not hesitate to ; 
i push the fermsnta'.ion farther, to suffer the materials to remain in the heap I 

< eight or ten days longer for cold, aigillaceous, and compact soils, because i 

< time presses you, the soil is so inactive, and the dressing of its aliments should < 
\ be more complete. If, on the contrary, in the same soil, you wish to cultivate \ 
I plants, which remain a long while in the ground, you only let your heap fer- ^ 
\ ment for fifteen days. There you employ what they call fresh nianure, only I 
\ you should take care to make your lye more unctious, stronger and richer to I 
\ the effect that the grain may thereby find an aliment in the folds of vegetable i 
I manure, and can germinate with rapidity anti vigor. The result will then be l 
^ that the elements of manure, decomposing little by little, and proo-ressively ^ 
I the roots of the plant will find food regularly up to harvest. ^ 
;: You pursue the same course for the sugar cane, the cotton tree, the mulberry I 
■/ tree, and for all plants which remain a long while in the soil ; also for orchards \ 
^ and nurseries. \ 
i 3d. In the third place I have said, that if the soil was intermediate between \ 
\ sandy and clayey, that is to say, if it approaches free soil, you should give a \ 
\ little less fermentation to the manure. There, it is thought, that since this ^ 
'> soil contains sand to give access to the air, and that the materials of the manure \ 
^ being a little fermented, they ought to decompose with sufficient facility. '\ 
i Here I am again very near in agreement with science, although not exactly so. \ 
i I am not dogmatic, and I still admit of some exceptions, as to the plants which > 
\ are cultivated, and as to the clinriate. Thus, if in this soil you wish to cultivate '/ 
\ flax, hemp, tobacco, and other plants, which ought to remain but a little while ^ 
\ in the ground, do not waver about pushing still farther the fermentation in I 
\ your manure heap. But if you desire to cultivate in this soil plants which are \ 
j to remain a long while in the ground, give it only a small amount of fermenta- \ 
^ tion ; stop it the tenth day. If you intend to put in your manure before win- 



r 



33 bommer's method 



ter cause but little fermentation, and stop it the eighth day, or after the second 
watering. 

4th. Should your soil be very calcarious, make your manure rich, ferment 
it but little, stop after the first watering, because the lime is already a fer- 
menter, from which the elements of manure cannot escape in the soil. 

5th. Should your soil want lime, push the ftrmentation vigorously, because, 
in this soil, you would miss this most precious agent to complete the fei menta- 
tion of the buried vegetables, and double or triple the quantity of lime in your 
lye, but do not neglect to observe the influences of climate. Thus, in southern 
statt^s, a soil may want lime and still be warm, especially if it is much exposed 
to the sun, a hill side exposure, or of a black color, because in this case it 
i absorbs caloric. 

i 6th. In fine, I have laid down as a principle, that in all soils which are infest- 
i ed with noxious weeds, and especially in neglected soils, and in the southern 
j states where the heart tends to multiply all seeds which are carried there by the 
/ winds, you should submit the manure to a vigorous fermentation, so that these 
; manures may not add to the foul weeds, which spring up in the fields, from the 
I germs, which they would otherwise contain, and which flourish with more fa- 
5 cility and power when they are surrounded by the principles of manure. 
I But here presents an objection, which you will not fail to make ; you say to 
; me, " You advance the principle that in a number of cases we should scarcely 
! ferment the manure at all. Now, if, on the other hand, you tell us to submit all 
I manure to a vigorous fermentation, in order to destroy the germ of various 
* seeds, you are in contradiction to yourself." 

i To this [ will reply, that it is possible to destroy the germs of all various 
I seeds, without causing the materials to ferment for any length of time. As for 
\ example, I wish a manure a very little decomposed, but at the same time, I wish 
'j to destroy the noxious seeds which may be found in my materials. I operate 
! thus ; I make a rich lye, by which I produce a rapid fermentation, which in 
I four or five days raises to 170 or 190 degrees Fahrenheit. The germs of all 
; hurtful weeds are destroyed, and I use my manure the sixth day. The same 
; as if I had produced a strong fire, for boiling beans, and keeping the water at 
I 210 degrees for a few seconds, I had taken off" the vessel, immediately after the 
I ebulation ; the vegetables would not be cooked, but the germ of the bean would 
I be destroyed. 

i Now this manure will be very little decomposed, very little gas will be dissi- 
pated, and the less from my heap, as, from its being closed in by earthy sub- 
stances, the gasses are retained and absorbed in their passage. 



CONCLUSION. 

Chemists, who have stated with so much precision the loss in manures, which 
is occasioned by fermentation, have not operated upon my heap, and it is cer- 




* To enable any o!ie to execute, what is communicated in this article, it is necessary (o 
know the nature of the ground which is to be cultivated. To this efTect, the process by 
which eich one caa analyz3 hi-i lindi, may he found in chapter 1st of the supplimentarv 
articles. 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 39 

^ tain, that if they rendered their experiments upon a heap of \\\y manure, well 
^ prepared, they would acknowl dge that in it the loss is almost nothiiio;. 
;; So, then, have I modified all the calculations of the chemists upon the ques- 
;! tion, "should manure be fermented ? I have completely displaced the ques- 
j tion, and if, on one hand, I prove by my mode of operating, that notwithstanding 

/ a considerable fermentation, my heap scarcely loses any thing in its fertilizing ^ 

f subs'ances, and if on the other side, I confirm that by my vigorous fermenta- ^ 

I tion, and directed by my will, I replace the effect of the trampling of cattle, <. 

''/ and in rendering soluble vegetables, the most obstinate to decomposed, I be- ^ 

;! lieve that I have rendered the most important service to ao;riculture. I 

;! I have ended this discussion, and perhaps reader, you may demand of me, ' 

/ how it is, that an unassuming farmer can put forth liis opinion, with sufficient i 

/ hardihood, upon a matter so delicate, and upon which the best authors have i 

I been of different opinions .^ I 

j Without doubt it would be temerity on my part to throw my voice into the \ 

j balance. But reader, do not forget that I claim under a new principle, that my <. 

i method is nothing less than the study of the laws of fermentation, a part of S 

^ physics, into which science, to this day, has the least penetrated, and which / 

I is perhaps all the mystery of life. Man reads in the stars; he measures \\ilh > 

( certainty the distance which separates us from the sun, but demand of him the ^ 

real cause of fermentation, by the aid of which all organized beings are formed, ; 

decomposed, and reconstituted, and he will be hushed into silent meditation. I 

Demand of him how the dung of the cow is metamorphosed into odorous l 

flowers.'' — how it is that a grain, decomposed, and elaborated by nature, be- ; 

comes man — thought — genius — a Descarte — a Corneille — a Washington — a > 

Napoleon, — the voice of science remains mute, and it is to be feared, that thou- > 

sands of ages will yt^t pass without revealing the truth to future generations. ^ 

What then should we do, in waiting for the discovery of this cause ? Occupy ^ 

ourselves with the fact. Fermentation exists; let us study in its laws, ics ^ 

various phases, and by its different applica: ion, let us convert vegetables into ^ 

\ fruit, into grain, into cattle — let us help nature to produce life, populations :; 

> will auijment, and with this growth of the mind, perhaps a day of genius, :; 

> aided by the always growing force of civilization, may pierce the mysteries, \ 
i which veil from our sight the profoundest secrets of nature.* , 
{ \ 

\ A RT tcLE Fou RT n . — Application of my manure^ according to the nature of the plant. \ 

I 

Till now, the idea of administering to plants, a nourishment proportioned lo ', 

the duration of their existing in the ground, had occurred to any one. The ] 

same manure was applied to plants, which remained but three months in the '/ 

soil, to the flower which had but a month to live, as to the plants which abided > 



40 



EO!VVMEU's MKTHOD 



i 



a year and more in the etirtli, before rendering their produce. We must agree ; 
that it was not very rational, but people could do no better. '. 

This method opens the way, and teaches how to compose manures, and to / 
vary them, not only according to the voracity of the plant, but according to its '■ 
duration in the ground. Thus, in the case where one wishes to push the ^ 
plants, which remain but a little time in the ground, it is necessary to compose \ 
a hoi manure, rendered immediately soluble, in order that the plant may be ' 
quick, large and ripe. If, on the contrary, you cultivate plants, which re- , 
main a long time in the earth, j'ou should compose a manure Avith materials 
which decompose slowly and successively. Thus, a perfect manure for these ; 
plants, would be that which would be fabricated out of the greatest variety of '/ 
vegetablis, and difficult to decompose 5 you put all the elements of the lye, ^ 
which by their agglomeration, forms its force, and of which each material is de- ; 
composed little by little, and successfully, and you should add horn shavings, ;; 
ground bones, leather shavings, &c. &c., in order that these plants may never J 
want nourishment. If you plant the mulberry, the cotton tree, sugar cane, i; 
fruit nurseries, you act the same. In fact, the young plant wants a soluble < 
manure ^"hh it, but at first it should have but little ; afterwards a second mate- i 
rial decomposes, then a third, then afourth, till at last it comes to the most ' 
difficult of decomposition ; and it will no longer be necessary to manure the 
plant each year, or to expose it to that which will check its prosperity. 

It is necessary that the manure should bd distributed, Lke nourishment to 
the infant, which is first fed with milk, and afterwards with aliments more sub- 
stantial, as age developes its constitution — such is the advance of nature, she 
proceeds only by degrees. 



Article Fifth — Solution of the problem piit by the celehraled Payen. 

But a short time since, this celebrated chemist, wrote in a French agricultu- 
ral journal, that the art of manure consists in the avoidance of the two great 
solubility of materials, whic h decompose too easily, and to render soluble those 
which decompose with too much difficulty. Well, this problem is resolved by 
the present method ; my .system is nothing more than tbe realization of Mr. 
Payen. If I have straw or hay, which decomposes too quickly, I water them 
with a lye, which incorporates the unctious solid materials with earthy salts 
and alkalies, and this manure, in being soluble, lasts longer than herbaceous 
bodies or straw. 

If I have hard and woody vegetables, I water them with my mordant lye, 
which attacks it, macerates them, and renders them soluble in a little tiine. 



Article Sixth. — N'j.inshiny.nt of plants, and of ivhat they are comjyosed. 

It is known, not only that plants take nourishment from the soil by their 
roots, but also that they take a large part from the air I y their leaves, organs 
construL'ted for this purpo-ie. Nov/, the larger the leaf, the more facility has 
the plant in taking its azotic nourishment, as it is principally nitrogen which it 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 41 

!' imbibes from the air. And it follows very evidently from this, that the larger 

> the surface of the leaf, the better state is the plant in to derive its aerial nou- 
■ rishment. This remark, which is not new, may possibly beget one which shall 
5 have some novelty. 

j Since the nourishment of plants is composed of humus, of carbonic acid eas, 

' of nitrogen, salt, &c., and that plants with large leaves have greater facility 

^ than those with narrow and pinnated leaves to imbibe nitrogtn, carbonic acid 

j gas, and others which form the base of humus, you should put, in the lye des- 

's tined for the first, more of the alkaline salts ; and in that destined for the 

;; second, more of unctuous substances, and containing a larger quantity of 

] humus. 

^ Thus, in lye intended to manure pumpkins, potatoes, corn, tobacco, and 

> other plants with large leaves, you should make the salts and alkalies prevail 
\ over the animal parts. On the contrary, in hemp, giain, and all the grasses, 
I the animal parts, or such as contain the rnost humus, should predominate. 

\ See why moulds, mixtures of plaster, ashes, &c., are better suited to natural 

< and artificial meadows than animal parts, or those charged Vt^ith humus. The 

I only decomposition of roots which die in the meadows are sufficiently filled 

I v/ith humus, but they want exciters ; they are the digestive salts of a thick 

> and engorged sap. This is v/hy so many farmers acknowledge the good effects 
I of ashes and plaster upon their meadows. 



> Article Seventh. — Vegetable mete7npsy costs ^ or transmutation of a dead into 
\ a living vegetable. 

^ Question. Do you not think that it would be rational to employ for com- 

\ posts, and whenever it is possible in vegetable decompositions, the stalks of 

\ the same plants which this manure will be destined to produce, because I am 

\ persuaded that the decomposition of a particular vegetable will be better 

'i adapted than any other to the prosperity of its like, in the new production } 
\ Answer. In general, every tiling appropriated to another suits it better than 

/ if chance alone had caused their junction. Now, if we replace the natural 

\ manure of animals, and which is applied, almost without examination, to the 

J culture of all plants indiscriminately, by a rational manure ; that is to say, in 

^ the composition of which en'' r substances of a nature analogous to those 

:; which form the structure, or the product of the plants v/hich are cultivated, it 

'/ is inevitable that we should prepare for these plants the elements of their ex- 

/ istence, their increase, and their prosperity. Thus, at all times it has been 

\ remarked, that the straw emploj^ed as litter, and as manure, was perfectly 

\ suited to the culture of wheat. The reason of which they were ignorant, but 

j; I think that it is altogether natural. 
'. Without throwing myself into scientific discussions, wheat straw contains 

\ various elements, and particularly salts, potash, and lime. If manure, buried 

,- under a piece of corn, does not contain the principles which 1 have pointed 

\ out, nature will make an extraordinary efibrt to procure for the corn plant the 
\ 6 



42 bommer's method 

elements of which it is in need, and which she, nevertheless, finds, whether it 5 
be in the earth, in the air, or in combinations of which we are ignorant. But ■ 
I if in place of resigning this to the sole charge of nature, man places at the < 
'< foot of this plant principles such as constitute it, nature will have less cfiorts > 
' to make the platit having near to it that which it wants, nourishes itself with < 
', more facility and power. I 

I This is why straw manure, ashes, feculant materials, in which the decom- \ 
\ position of straw and grains preponderate, causes the grain of wheat to prosper, ^ 
\ which contains much phosphate of lime. So, to take another example, it is > 
known that plaster acts upon leguminous plants, peas, beans, clover, &c. ; i 
'f but science has given rise to thousands of discussions to discover the cause of ] 
\ the effect, and upon this science has not advanced beyond us. This is a secret \ 
\ of nature which mortals have not yet been able to penetrate. As to myself, \ 
'i what does it import ma to know why and how plaster acts upon legumes, \ 
\ veoetables, as well as forage ; I only wish to follow facts. < 

\ Is it true that when we observe that a principle or element is useful to a \ 
\ plant, that it is necessary to furnish it .? . 

'i The reply can only be in the affirmative. Since the legumes have a par- > 
\ tiality for plaster, we make it predominate in the composition of our lye. If J 
\ afterwards you desire to know why it is that legumes are partial plaster, I can \ 
I only mention the incontestible fact that if we analyze leguminous plants, we 
\ will discover that they contain more plaster than other plants. 
^ It is thus that, little by little, I will give to my readers the analytical results \ 
', of the principles which prevail in plants, and it will be easy for every one to \ 
'i judge what are the elements which he should add to his lye to prepare it for > 
'i - composts, and for the conversion of vegetable into manure. 

/ If it merely depended, at all times, upon the transcription of the material ; 
'> analysis of each family of plants, I could profit by tables which already exist, * 
\ and where this analysis is made ; but I wish, alter my own experiments in the \ 
\ ground, to test if the experiment is in accordance with the declarations of 
\ science, the only means of never being deceived. \ 

\ This career which I have opened is larger than at first wnll be believed, but \ 
\ with time, labor, perseverance, and the assistance of farmers who are willing 



') to second me by their own essays, in the different States, we will attain the goal. 



Article Eighth. — Economy. 



Question. The title of your method further says, that your system is eco- ^ 
nomical. Will you be good enough to indicate to me in what consists this i 



economy 



i Answer. Always, when one makes his own manure, in place of buying it, 

i and when he manufactures the elements of its composition without cost, that 

5 is to say, in using that which is on the place, and which is often suffered to go 

I to waste, economy is insured. 



Whenever any manufactory whatever is first organized, the benefits are <, 

almost always less the first year than in subsequent years. This is like the ', 

adoption of a new system, and naturally all innovation is accompanied with a I 

little sacrifice at its introduction. It is necessary to organize the workshop, ,' 

purchase the tools, instruct workman, form schools. Now, the benefits are \ 

never so considerable at the beginning. The more or less economy depends \ 

still upon the dispositions which you take to place your tools in the best posi- ^ 

tion to facilitate the manual labor of the waterings, which are the most impor- I 

tant parts of the manipulation. It should be well understood, that as water is I 

the base of the system, it is necessary to have a large quantity, as a ton of < 

straw is turned into four tons at least of manure.' Dispose your heaps near to '< 

the water, a pond, a branch, a river, or a well ; save particularly rain water, con- J 

struct reservoirs, make ponds, and mark well, that for you water is manure. But ', 

that is not all ; to receive these waters, to convert them into saturated water, I 

or half lye, it is yet necessary to combine economy with the mode of watering. > 

Here localities will afford greater or less facilities. But, in fine, it will always > 

depend upon your intelligence to make jour combinations more or less econo- f 

mical. Thus, a perfect disposition is, first of all, to make your preparations at f 

the foot of a declining piece of ground, where the water,, after having been < 

converted into lye, in a basin above it, can soak the heap by its ordinary fall. ^ 

It is easy to conceive, that if your heap wafers itself from a basin above it, ^ 

the labor is considerably reduced. If your farm (or your greatest convenience ^ 

to the necessary quantity of water) is situated in a plain where there is no fall, ^ 

it will be well then to make use of a pump to carry the lye upon your heap, 'i 

Thus, then, in one hand hold the method, which traces the principles, the \ 

general rules, and with the other take your dimensions, place your tools, espe- \ 

cially so that the waterings can be practised with economy ; for, in resuming, > 

I can teach you economical processes ; but if you cannot aid me, the benefits , ^ 

of my system will be less, for I cannot sell you economy. If any thing in the i 

world belongs to intelligence, it is certainly the order which engenders economy. ^ 

You who may have commenced without having sufficiently meditated upon my < 

\ system, upon the mass of water which is necessary, upon the elements which J 

I must be gathered upon the water to saturate, may, the first time, lead yourself ] 
I into error ; but study, change your preparations, if it is necessary, act with intel- 
l ligence and skill, and the economy will be great and certain. This economy 
^ will increase year by year. 

j If you want to make a large quantity of manure leaven, you should establish 
i basins or reservoirs in which the water can be corrupted ; the more corrupt it 
I is the more valuable it is; and afterwards preserve the juice or liquid which 
\ flows from the heap during the operation, and which constitutes the leaven. If 
I these two objects are in a perfect state, you can then, in subsequent operations, 
I without fear, reduce the lye ingredients to one third of the quantity indicated 
I in the table, without prejudice to the quality of the manure. 
\ Another great principle of economy in a farm, consists in not permitting 
\ animal matter to volatilize. Thus, the dung of horses, of horned cattle, and 



[ 



< 44 bommer's method 

^ others, employed in a dry state, have lost one half of their value. These < 

i materials, on the contrary, thrown day by day, or at least twice a week, into ^ 

I your reservoir of saturated water, will not only prevent the loss which would ^^ 

\ have been occasioned by evaporation in the air, but will serve to corrupt the ^ 

j water, and enrich it. This will give cleanliness to the cattle. It is not \ 

;■ to be believed that cattle love to roll in their own dirt ; on the contrary, I 

] they love cleanliness, and cleanliness gives health. To this end, that >' 

/ is, to insure the animal dejections in their freshness, in order to enrich ', 

i the saturated water, the farmer ought every morning to make the large I 

/ cattle get up in their stables, and in the barn-yard, some ten or fifteen i 

I minutes before driving them out. During this time these cattle will ^ 

I accomplish their functions, and will deposit the product of the night's ^ 

^ digestion ; whereas, if the animals are driven out immediately after their rising, ^ 

they will deposit their dung far from the farm, in the fields, or in the woods, > 

and this matter will be, little by little, lost to the farmer. j 

(This article is completed by what is said in the following section, Article J 

5, No. 5.) 



SECTION SECOND. 

1. Saturated water. 

2. Place of operations. 

. 3. Ingredients of the lye. 

4. Composition of the lye. 

5. Manner of making the manure. 

Article First. — Of saturated water. 

Question. I suppose that the more the water is corrupted, old and charged 
with matter, the more it ought to contribute to the prompt decomposition of 
the vegetables, and to the good quality of the manure. But to be well able to 
fix upon the various qualities of this water, it is necessary that you should make 
a classification. 

Answer. You are right. I will divide the saturated water into four classes, 
or distinct qualities. 



1. First quality. < 

The first quality of saturated water is that which is composed of rain, or S 
snow water, and in which shall have been put much of various kinds of green \ 
vegetables, urine, excrements, offal of animals, spoiled fish or provisions, greesy \ 
dish water, soapsuds, lye, and, in short, all similar residues. It will readily be \ 
comprehended, that all these matters, in corrupting the water, will also con- <. 




;; FOR MAKING MANURE. 45 '/ 

) siderahly enrich it at the same tim.^. A water thus composed, and which has \ 
', been permitted to grow old, will of itself more than half constitute a lye, and \ 
'i in adding some salts you will have a lye of the first quality. < 

\ \ 

\ 2. Second quality. 5 

j The second quahty of saturated water is stagnant and corrupted water, such ^ 

; as is found in ditches, ponds, and in low places, and in which green vegetables ? 

/ have been decomposed. In drawing off this w-ater, you ought to be careful to I 

^ stir the bottom of the ditch or pond, in order to enrich the water with slime I 

^ or mud, which you will find at the bottom, having there formed a deposit. \ 

I 3. Third quality. | 

i The third quality is rain water, or snow water. In my experiments I have > 

^ always remarked, that with this water, not only the fermentation of the mate- I 

i rials operate with more ease than with fresh water from wells, springs, or I 

i rivers, but that the manure which it produces is better than that obtained from <. 

( these last waters. ^ 

In my opinion, the cause of this difference is, that rain and snow water, I 

direct from the clouds, ought to have in it more electricity than that which is \ 

amassed under ground in traversing various beds of the earth, and consequenily, I 

I suppose, that it may be a more active agent in fermentation. But that which ' 

better explains the effect produced bj' rain, or snow water, in my manure, is, I 

that these waters contain ammoniacal and calcareous elements, all of which, in I 

exciting fermentation, communicate at the same time a fertilizing principle to ;; 

my manure. The existence of these salts in rain and snow water, has been I 

detected by chenusts, and recently confirmed by Dr. Dana, in an admirable / 

work, known under the title of " Muck Manual." ' 



4. Fourth quality. 

The fourth quality of water is running water, of streams, rivers, or branches, 
and the last quality is fresh water from wells and springs. 

In using these waters in the lye, it would be well to augment, by one fourth, 
the ingredients in the table, especially at the first operation, because then you 
have not the aid of the leaven of manure. 



<^ Article Second. — Place of operations. ^ 

\ \ 
1. Grate. \ 

\ Question. Is it absolutely necessary to construct a grate .' Can we not put ^ 

>^ up the heap upon a platform without the grate, because every body has not \ 

', planks at his disposal } And what is the advantage to be deriv^ed from the '' 

'/ employment of this grate .? \ 

^ Answer. The grate in question is only a means to facilitate the operation, \ 

/ but it is not indispensible ; you may put up the heap upon a platform without ', 

\ \ 



-; 46 eommer's jmethod I 



'f the grate. Nevertheless, the employment of either of the grates (fig. 3 and 4) ', 

'/ presents two very valuable advantages. In the fit st place, it facilitates the flowing \ 

/ of the liquid, and then it gives access to the air under the heap, which greatly ac- I 

'i celerates the fermentation. Jn fact, with the grate the fermentation commences \ 

\ at the bottom of the heap ; it is more prompt ; whilst without the grate it com- \ 

\ mences at the middle of the heap, and the operation is retarded from one to ^ 

\ two days. i 

\ If one has not boards at his disposal, he can use any other material, so that ^ 

/ he makes a grate of some kind, and as he may be more or less able to do it, any s 

\ farmer can construct one for himself, and then he will have no need to disburse \ 

>i any thing for this object. \ 

') \ 

\ 2. Of the employment of old boards in place of beating the surface. ] 

^ Question. You say that the surface of the excavation upon which you wish to ] 

s put this grate or heap, should be beaten or puddled, in order to prevent the > 

i filtration and loss of the juice which flows from the heap during the opera- ] 

\ tion. Do you not think that it would be more advantageous to employ < 

\ boards to this effect .'' < 

\ Answer. Without doubt, a bed of boards will perfectly fulfil this end. In | 

\ thus doing, the excavation in question will be more solid and more durable, I 

? only it will be necessary to fill up the cracks or openings with puddling earth, s 

\ or any other mortar, in order that the liquid may not escape in that way. \ 

> 1 should have mentioned this in the body of the method, if 1 had not feared \ 
I to occasion some expense, as every body has not boards at his disposal, whilst ] 
^ tl e beating of the ground only costs labor. ; 
\ The lye reservoir and its object are sufficiently explained in the body of the I 
^ method. ^ 

> Article Third. — Ingredients. ? 

^ Question. You say that the ingredients are to be found upon the place, and \ 

I that the farmer has not any cisbursementto make for this object, whilst the lime, 

5 salt, and saltpetre, for which you do not name any substitute, must be bought ; 

} barley or other grain, such as is to replace the feculant materials, although, upon 

> the place, have nevertheless an intrinsic value which it would be easy to realize. 
\ Please explain. 

> 1. Lime. ^ 
] Answer. Concerning the lime, his purchase only becomes necessary when | 
] he has no limestone about his farm, or shells to burn, and whenever there is a < 
i possibility of procuring these materials without expense, it ought to be taken ^ 
< advantage of, especially limestone, because, by means of these stones, any one j 
^ may fabricate all at one time, four of the elements of the lye, namely, lime, ^ 
I plaster, soot and ashes, and that without expending any thing. > 
I In this way dig a hole in the ground five feet in diameter, and two feet ^ 
'/ deep ; then start al the interior base to budd an arch with the lime stones, ^ 
i leaving an opening on the north side to give a draft to the fire ; then put on it s 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 

'I some limestones, and, if possible, some old plastering, then fill it up with earth, ) 

'f apply the fire to it from lime to time, feed the fire so that in about 30 hours the - 

I operation is terminated, and you have, 1st. Fresh lime. 2d. Plaster which ^ 

< has been melted, and returned to powder. 3d. Burnt earth mixed with soot. I 

s 4th and last, ashes. ^ 

I This is a further argument that the greater or less economy of my system < 

\ depends upon the intelligence and the genius of the farmer who makes its I 

^ application. i 

\ If it is impossible to procure either limestone or shells, the lime will have to ^ 

be bought, the cost of which, in the quantities required by this method, cannot ^ 

be much. ^ 

'2. Soot. \ 

t 

Question. As a substitute for soot you name the product of an ecobuage. 't 

What do you call an ecobuage ? and how is it that this material coniains soot .' It <, 

seems to me that burnt earth and ashes have no affiaity to soot. Js there any ;! 

other substance to substitute for soot .■• < 

Answer. I call an ecobuage or clearing fire, a heap composed of combustible '!■ 

materials, such as trunks of trees, roots, branches, briers, heaLhs, sods of turf / 

of all kinds, all materials which are obtained from the cleaning of woods, and i 

breaking up of pasturage, which is burnt, a common practice upon farms ; and \ 

as these substances united in a heap are more or less humid and earihy, it fol- l 

lows that they will consume but slowly. Now, from this clearin"' fire under- > 

going a slow and continued combustion for many days, there is the product, '/ 

1st. Ashes, furnished by the burnt wood. 2d. Burnt earth, furnished by the ' 

earth which has attached itself to the trunk, the roots and the turf sods. And ^ 

3d., there is the soot engendered by the smoke, and which is found mixed with I 

the ashes and the burnt earth. ;; 

No doubt I will only find the soot in small portions, hut this will suffice ; 

for our operation, the more so, as this substance, although valuable in the com- / 

bination, is not indispensable in the lye, for this ingredient scarcely contiiLutes \ 

any thing to the fermentation of the materials. Then the employment of i 

these materials is still advantageous in this sense, that besides the principle of soot \ 

which is contained in the ashes and the burnt earth, these two last substances ^ 

possess yet other fertilizing principles for the base of an amendment, which I 

have a very good effect in the entire operation. Old plastering from ruins, also, } 

contains the principle of soot. I have not mentioned it in the body of the \ 

method, because it is rare that this material is in the possession of the faimer, I 

whilst the" clearing" is practised by almost all farmers, and does net occasion ; 

^ him any disbursement. i 

i 3. — Ashes. ^ 
i To replace nnslacked wood ashes, you name 5 or 6 Us. of potash, or of scdr, 
I but this substitute is more ofi.en necessary to buy to avoid this expc nse. Cnn 
i we not, in the absence of unslacked wood ashes, employ the ashes of pi!coaI, or 

' slacked ashes, or, in short, add them to the first, without prejudice to the op( ra- ^ 

I tioa ? ] 



BOMMER S METHOD 



1 



Answer. If you have not unslacked ashes, or you cannot get a certain quantity 

\ for your manure lye, which moreover is a case very rare in farms, you can 

I thea employ coal ashes, or slacked ashes ; but it will be necessary, in that case, 

i to double the quantity, that is, in place of two bushels to take four bushels. 
; If you have at your disposal ashes both unslacked and slacked, and coal 

i ashes, you will reserve the (irst for your manure lye, and throw the others into 

I the basin of saturated water ; ihat is, in case the quantity is too great to be 
added to the lye. 

; 4. Salt. 

\ Question. I think that the cost of salt is so small, that it scarcely merits \ 

: to be carried into the account ; the price is so low, and the quantity so small, \ 

' that it is not worth the trouble to make it a question of economy. But I can- \ 

] not conceive how a little salt can have any effect in a heap of manure of four 

' tons. Can you tell me the reason i 

; Answer. You ought to put but very little salt in your lye, because salt, used j 

: in sniall quantities, divides the greasy particles, facilitates the course of the | 

: sap, favors vegetation, produces a certain heat, which hastens fermentation ; 

; M' hi 1st a very laige quantity will, in many cases, be prejudicial to vegetation, 

: and will arrest fermentation. 

; This argument is relied upon now by men both of science and of practice; | 

i also do 1 know, by my own experiments, that in putting a little salt in the lye \ 

\ my m;inure is better. For the rest, you have already' remarked, that I seek \ 

\ to imitate nature. Thus, you will observe, that digestion is better accom- j 

! plished, although the salt may be scarcely visible, than when our food is taken 

: without salt. Thp appetite is excited, the salivary glands discharge them- J 
selv 's, bv \\ hich the alimen's are better moistened, and better attacked by the | 

; juices of the stomach. Now, the same phenomena are going on in plants ; a 

< little salt animates the sap, which circulates better, and does not choke, as i 

i when the manure is only mucilage. 
\ 

I .5. Saltpetre. | 

i In regard to saltpetre, all that we know of saltpetre is, that it is formed in ? 

: caves, in stables, and under limestone looks. Any one can, then, procure his | 

: saltpetre for his lyes, without its beini:;; necessary to lixiviate the earth, by | 

' scraping it down oi around the wall, and when one adds it, in its rough state, I 

; to the other ingredients of the lye. In fine, nothing is mo 'e easy than to make \ 

\ at home your owm artificial nitres, in erecting near the manure heap, and under | 

I low buildings, to which a little air is given, small walls composed of vegetable \ 

I earth, ashes, and vegetable and animal materials of all torts. You water j 

; these walls from time to time, and the nitre forms in them, and is continually 

5 r.-^produciiig. Y'^ou gather it by scraping the Avails. When the weather is 

( wet an 1 damp, and when there is no v^ind, the nitre makes the faster. \ 

; To miki' you understand the points of resemblance between the art of making 

; nitre, (the substance from which saltpetre is extracted,) and that of fabricating ! 



I FOR MAKING MANURE. 49 \ 



/ my manure, I will point out to you the artificial process by which nitre is 
<, produced. 

\ Nitric acid can only be formed from that part of the air which is termed 
I azote, a gas which is also contained in quantities in animal matter. To 

< make 200 lbs. of saltpetre it is necessary to make use of 300 lbs. of animal 
I matter. But this nitrogen is not sufficient, air must yet be furnished. Thus, 
j the essential conditions to cause the formation of nitre, are : 

< 1. Animal matter. 

< 2. Air. 

I 3. Moi&ture. 

•> 4. An alkaline base, such as lime or potash. 

> Other things are often added to these elements, as vegetable substances, and 

^ these fulfil other objects ; they furnish potash, a small matter containino- the 

^ animal principle, and sometimes nitre, and in dividing the mixtures submitted 

^ to this process they favor the contact of their parts with the exterior air ; but 

j in putting many vegetables into artificial nitres, you obtain more nitrate 

< of lime. 

J (This is one of the truest explanations of my .method, since I employ veo-e- 
^ tables so largely.) There are then many points of resemblance between arti- 
i' ficial nitres and my manure heaps. 

I The product of a good nitrification is four ounces per cubic foot of earth. When 
', this manufacture is under cover it is in the best condition for success, and the 
! only economical nitrifications are those which are connected with acrricultural I 
J experiments. s 

; There are yet various ways of manufacturing nitre, wl.ich it is unnecessary ) 
; to examine here. It is then established, that one of the causes of the strength \ 
\ of my manure is the quantity of saltpetre which is formed in the heap, and in \ 
; my vegetable compost, especially if it is permitted to grow old, for artificial J 
; nitrifications represent very nearly the aggregate of my system. 

The nitrate, or the elements of saltpetre, spread upon the ground, especially 

if the land is not calcareous, as well as saltpetre in a state of purity, if they 

are well applied, produce great effects, as they become combined with hme, 

forming the nitrate of lime, one of the most active manures which exists; 

another, and most certain effect of this nitrate, and of saltpetre, is, that they 

, draw moisture from the air, and give freshness to the plants. 

: I have enlarged a little upon this matter, because I wish to demonstrate that 

: the art of making nitre closely approaches my method ; that any one can make 

his nitre by only following his manufacture of manure, and that he will owe a 

part of his success in the earth to the quantity of nitre which is formed in his 

heap of manure made after this method. 

6. Plaster. 

Question. As a substitute for plaster you indicate various earthy substances, ^ 

but it seems to me that these materials have but little analogy to plaster, and ^ 

do not possess fertilizing virtues. Then, although these substances, or at least j 

7 \ 



\ one of them is to be found in the major part of farms, there are, notwithstand- 

\ ino- some localities which are entirely without them. In such case, can we not ^ 

\ use earth in place of them ? \ 

'i Answer. In truth, the most part of earthy substances contain hut very \ 

\ little plaster, and some even none at all, but, nevertheless, their use up to a \ 

\ certain point produces the desired result. The essential part for us is, to incor- \ 

\ porate in a heap of vegetables a solid matter for the basis of the amendment, ^ 

'i to the effect, j 

\ 1. To render the mass more solid and compact, in order to facilitate the fer- '/ 

\ mentation of the heap. ;; 

\ 2. To absorb and retain the ammoniacal gas developed by the fermentation. ^ 

I 3. To prolong the duration of the manure in the earth. j 

t If you cannot procure either one or the other of these earthy substances, or I 

\ if you have not enough of them, you can then replace them with earth. You \ 

\ should always use light earth in preference to argillaceous or clayey earth, this ^ 

< last being too cold. \ 



7. Human excrements- 

Question. How do you explain the power of these excrements .' 
Answer. If you adopt the principle that manures compo.sed of the greatest 
variety of elements are the richest, the explanation is easily found. The 
aliments with which man nourishes himself being of a great variety, and more 
or less rich, as meat, grains, fish, &c., it is natural to understand why this 
manure is the richest when in its primitive state, but not when it is reduced to 
a poudrette, where it has lost, by defective manipulation, the greatest part of 
its fertilizing principles. 



'> 



< 8. Dung of animals. J 

> Question. As a substitute for feculant materials you prescribe five barrels of ^ 

^ animal dung. Can you not take less without prejudice to the entire operation.'' < 

i Answer. If you operate wath horse dung, or other hot manures, you can ,■ 

i reduce this substitute to four barrels, but I, at the same time, indicate the cung , 

I of oxen, cows, &c., whilst that of hogs varies according to the nourishment $ 

\ which they take, consequently, for your first operations the quantity prescribed '/ 

J in the table should be adhered to. But I repeat it, that after your leaven, and your '^ 

') saturated water, are well constituted, you can reduce these quantities without \ 

t prejudice to the operation, or to the quality of the manure. ^ 

\ Question. I know that the dung of oxen, and of cows, is a colder manure \ 

\ than horse dung, but I cannot satisfy myself of the cause of the phenomenon, ', 

\ and the more so, as the ox and the cow are nourished from nearly the same food . 

\ as the horse. Can you tell me the reason } ) 

\ Answer. It appears tome that the cause is this. Ruminant animals chew ^ 

\ their food a second time, and longer than the horse, from whence it follows that ; 

\ the fermentation of their aliments in the stomai-h, and in the intestines, is ; 



better accomplished than with the horse race. Now, the more complete the 
fermentation of a vegetable, the less heat remains to be developed. 

This is why horse dung, of which the materials are less fermented, less 
divided, and less decomposed, gives out more warmth to the nourishment of 
plants than the dung of cows, the particles of which are closer together and 
more united. Open the two manures, and at a single glance it will be observed, 
that that of the cow can be but little more fermented, and that the other, less 
broken, produces more heat. You can see, then, why it is remarked that cow 
manure is better than others upon light and sandy soils, and that horse dung is | 
preferable to cow dung for strong, cold, and clayey lands. 

Q, ESTiON. I do not know if your remark is very just upon the subject of 
ruminant animals, because the sheep and the goat ruminate, and their manure 
is still hotter than that of the horse. 

Answer. If straw and hay were the principal nourishment of sheep and 
goats, as they are of the cow, their dung might perhaps not be worth more 
than that of the cow ; but observe that the bovine cattle feed on grain, the 
croppings of forage, and most active odoriferous plants, from whence its dung 
ought to be very active. Also observe, that this manure is much richer in the 
fine season than in winter, and upon the mountains than in the plain. 

Thus, then, it is not sufficient to class the value of manures after the kinds 
of animals which produce them, but they should be consideied with reference 
to the richness of the aliments of which they are the residues, and the seasons 
in which these manures are produced. 

9. Grain. 

Concerning grain as a substitute for human excrements, I have not recom- 
mended the use of grain, but in the rare case of the absence of feculant matter. 
For example : when one first purchases a farm, or a new farmer enters into 
new grounds, where there is neither cattle nor manure to be had, he may still 
compose a good manure heap, by means of fermented grain, which will produce 
a greater effect than he may have an idea of, because the fermented liquor 
which results from it is a moving princij.le, an active lye to attack and decom- 
pose the woody substances, by merely adding a new strength to the base of 
albumen and starch ; but 1 do not mean to say by that, that manure produced 
from this operation will be as perfect as if you had used animal matter. 

10. Diastase, or ferment ous matter contained in grain. 

It is now acknowledged by chemists that diastase, a substance recently dis- 
covered by chemical analysis, found especially in barley, is a powerful vehicle 
to fermentation. This substance is found in the embryo of the barley grain ; it 
acts, during the first stages of vegetation, upon the germ of the grain ; it is 
that which engenders the sugar fermentation, and developes the plant, and the 
power of diastase is such that two thousandths will suffice to cause this fer- 
mentation. 

Then diastase not only exists in barley, and in other grains, but in nearly 



i 



52 bommer's method 



\ 11. Retrenchment of the soot, salt, and saltpetre. 

> Question. Is it absolutely indispensable to use all the ingredient to obtain 

^ the hic^h decree of fermentation necessary to reduce vegetables into manure in 

< a few days? Can we not leave some of them out without sensibly injuring 
^ the whole operation ? 

\ Answer. The materials absolutely necessary to produce the wished for fer- 

l mentation, are : 

I 1. Lime. 

i 2. Ashes. 

i 3. Animal matter. 

\ 4. Then a mineral substance, as the basis of the amendment, in order to obtain 

; the necessary slime. 

< By means of these four ingredients, and in acting as I have prescribed in the 
I foreo-oing, one can still obtain a good result. At the same time, it should be 
\ borne in mind, that in adding the other matters the raanure which they produce 
) is better, because not only have you added thereto various elements, very pre- 



all other vegetables, although in very small quantities, and as it is only neces- ^ 
sary for one thousandth to act energetically, it follows, that for the little that is < 
found in a gathered mass of vegetables, pressed and watered, it will act with I 
energy upon the germ which is found in them. There is, by this means, con- > 
version of the germ in sugar ; that is to say, the first fermentation after the > 
vinous fermentation is produced ; then the acid, then at last the putrid, which ^ 
is the stage of destruction of the ligneous bodies ; that is, that of which we ? 
are in search. i 

The learned chemist Dumas, maintains that sugar exists in all vegetable sub- <, 

> stances ; that always the sugar fermentation is the first, and that, consequently, ^ 

my fermentation, like all otheis, commences by the action of the diastase upon } 

all that is fecula, and that the other fermentations are only such as follow in / 

the order above named. < 

This explanation refers not only to the addition of barley, or other grain, ^ 
but it throws light upon the first and true cause of the fermentation of our ^ 
manure. You will now perceive why it is that I have prescribed the thorough \ 
intermixtures of the materials in heaping them, and I add, that if one has green 
veo-etables at his disposal he ought to intermix them with the other materials. 
Grain, and especially barley, possesses another property. In the state pre- 
scribed, that is, after having been steeped for the time mentioned in the lye, or 
in the diluted urine, the albuminous particles detach from the grain, and con- 
tribute to anoint vegetables with a greasy and animal substance. Thus, those 
who wish to make a very active manure, as gardiners generally desire to have, 
will only have to add to the quantity of feculant matter indicated in the table, 
the water in which barley or other grain has been steeped. It is to this mix- 
ture that I attribute the astonishing fermentation that I obtained in one of my 
experiments, in which it exceeded 250 degrees of Fahrenheit, 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 53 

cious to the fertility of the ground, but by their mixture with other ingredients, 
you have facilitated the production of nitrate of lime, and of caustic potash. 

Thus, then, although the soot and saltpetre are not absolutely necessary to 
cause the success of the operation, you should, nevertheless, always employ 
these substances when you can procure them with little expense. 

Those who have marl at their disposal ought to use it preferably to the other 
substitutes for plaster, or even to plaster itself. In using marl, you can even 
diminish, b}!- one half, the quantity of lime, as marl is very rich in alkalies. 
So, also, if you use human excrements, urine, or much liquor from stable 
manure, you can omit saltpetre, as these materials contain its principle. You 



you can dispense with the use of salt in the lye. 

12. Employment of ground bones, horn shavings, sawdust, ground charcoal, 
blood, and other residues of butcheries, and those of salting establishments. 



i should also understand, that if you use saline residues, sea water, or sea mud, '/ 
'< or if you are acting upon vegetables containing much salt, as sea ores, &c., ^ 



Question. All the elements of your lye are known as proper to fertilize the \ 
ground and nourish the plants. Now, there are others which have also that ^ 
value, and which you take the pains to mention, as, for example, ground bones, ^ 
horn shavings, sawdust, pulverized charcoal, blood, and other ofFal of butch- '/ 
eries, the residues of soap and candle manufactories, those of salteries, &c. ^ 
Should these materials not be hurtful to the operation, how should we act to ^ 
draw from them the greatest profit } <. 

Answer. For my combination, and to attain my end, it is important, first of ; 
all, to find the materials which are at the disposal of each farmer, or at least < 
that which they can procure with facility, and at the least expense, m order I 
that the adoption of my system can become general. / 

Doubtless there are some farmers who have at their disposal, or can procure, ^ 
at a trifling expense, not only all the materials mentioned above, but yet more, 
any other substance known in science, or in practice, as possessing fertilizing qua- 
lities, which they ought to employ, because one being rich in carbonic acid, 
\ others in salts, others again in azote, it is certain that their mixture with other 
I ingredients will greatly enrich the mass. 

^ As to the manner of using these various materials with the greatest advantage 
< possible, you should mix the organized bodies with the vegetables, and pass 
'> the whole of them through the lye ; and as to the inorganic matters, or such 
\ as are in a liquid state, they should be thrown into the basin of saturated water 
i in cases where the liquid is produced, in a season when manure is not wanted 
/ to be made. If, on the contrary, it is at the time of making manures, they 
I should be thrown into the lye reservoir, always observing a certain proportion. 
I In proceeding thus, these materials will dispose themselves to solubility or 
^ dissolve, and, in short, will be found divided in an equal manner in all the mass 
i of the manure or compost heap. 



54 bommer's method. 

I Article Fourth. — Composition of the lye. 

\ 1. — Iledaclion and Augmentation of the ingredients. 

\ Question. To reduce, or to make predominate, such and such elements in 

\ our lye, what is the least, and what is the greatest quantity of each ingredient, 

;; which we can use in ihe composition of our lye .'' 

\ Answer. To appropriate lhe]3'e to the soil and the plant, as is said in articles 

'i 3 and 4 of thr first section, you can augment or increase each of the ingredit nts 

;: stated in the table, in the following proportions, without endangering the 

\ success of the operation, namely : — 

I 

^ l3t. Lime — 2 buiheli may be reduced to 1 bushel, or augmented to 8 bushels. 

', 2d. Soot — 2 bushels do do 5 do. 

t, 3d. Ashes — 2 bushels do 1 do 8 do. 

> 4th. Salt — 4 pounds do do 16 pounds 

< .^th. Saltpetre— 2 pounds do do 103 do. 

/ Gth. Plaster— 5 bushels do 2 do 1-5 bushels. 

I 

'/ 7th Excrements 3 barrels. .., do 2 do 12 barrels. 

' Sth. Leaven — 1 barrel do do 10 do. 



^ 



It is to be understood that these proportions are established for one ton of dry ;; 

materials, or two tons of green vegetables, and that if you use more of these '; 

materials, you oi.ght to augment the quantities progressively, and in a certam \ 

proportion. 'i 

You mav diminish or increase the materials named as substitutes, in the same / 

\ proportions. ^ 

\ I ought to recommend, not to depart widely from the quantity of lime fixed [ 

\ above, and only to augment the quantity first named in the table in cases \ 

\ foreshadowed in the third article of the preceding section, because lime being $ 

; corrosive, it follows that if you put a quantity much too strong, it will eat up the ^ 

;; unctuous particles of the manure. JNeither ought yon to go much beyond the i 

'/ quantity of soot fixed above, for in such cases this ingredient will stop the / 

< fermentation. / 

'; 2. Variation of the quantity of the ingredients according to the size of the ^ 

'/ heap. ^ 

'/ Question. I suppose that we ought to increase or diminish the quantity of 't 

\ the ingredients in proportion to the quantity of our materials. You say, " in '/ 

f a certain proportion," but this annunciation appears to me rather vague. Can ' 

;; you not be more precise in these proportions, in giving a calculation that will 

\ guide me .•' 

\ Answer. It must be admitted as a rule, that the quantity of the ingredients 
\ to employ, depends upon the state in which you find the saturated water. 
\ Now, if this water is of the first quality, as is spoken of in the first article of 
^ this section, and you have a good leaven at your disposal, you will be in the 
\ first condition, and you can reduce by one-fourth your other ingredients in 
^ acting upon the quantity of materials announced, namely, one ton of dry 
J vegetables, or two ton of green. 

\ If you use water of the second or third quality, if you act without leaven, 
\ 



FOS MAKING MANURE. 55 I 

and if you only have the quantity of niaterials above announced, you will be i 
in a second condition; you must then use these ingedients in the proportions j 
stated in the table. J 

If you have water of the fourth quality, and no leaven, and you only opernte I 
upon a small quantity of materials, you will be in the third and last condition, I 
^ and it will then be necessaiy to auf^mtnt ly one-fourth the quantify of the 
/ ingredients. i 

i If you act upon many tons of materials, and you are in the first condition | 
^ relative to saturated water and leaven, you can reduce by one-third your lye | 
J ingredients. If you are in the second condition, you can reduce them by one- i 
; fourth ; if you are in the third condition you ought to maintain the quantities laid i 
^ down in the table. \ 

^ If you employ a larger quantity of materials, say 15 to 30 tons, and are in 5 
^ the first condition, as to saturated water and leaven, you can reduce your ingie- ' 
I dien's by one-half. If you are in the second condition, you can reduce them \ 
I one-third. If you are in the third condition, you ought to reduce them by j 
I one-fourth. ; 

\ If you employ more than 39 tons of materials at a time, you can in the first J 
' condition reduce the ingredients five-eights ; in the second condition by orse-l alf ; 5 
^ in the third condition by only one-third. In acting thus, you will still have a '/ 
1^ satisfactory result, whilst it is natural that the more materials you put in the \ 
^ lye, the better will you make your manure. \ 



3. Thz leait and, the gra%te3t quantity of materials that can be employed in \ 

our operation. i^ 

Question. What is the least, and what is the greatest quantity of materials ', 

that can be employed at a time, without endangering the operation. \ 

Answer. For vegetable manure you ought not to take less than 1,000 lbs. \ 

of vegetables dry or green, and for vegetable compost not less than 2,000 lbs. I 

of materials. These quantities are strictly necessary to obtain the degree of \ 

heat necessary for the prompt decomposition of the materials. \ 

As to the largest quantity of materials which can be employed at a time, it < 

is unlimited, for the larger the heap the better. In fact, it is much more easy ^ 

to operate upon a large, than upon a small quantity- In a large heap the fr- 'i 

mentation operates more freely, and is developed with greater facility ; it is ^ 

more active, more powerful than in a small heap, and, consequently, the success \ 

of the operation is much more easy to realize. < 

4. Virtue of the lye. — What it is. \ 

Question. A lye well composed, has it the same virtue, and does it fulfil \ 

the same end as the urine of cattle .'' '> 

Answer. The lye is in reality a fictitious or artificial urine, by means of '/ 

which we substitute with advantage the urine of ca tie. In fact, the principal '/ 

) elements v/hich constitute the urine of beasts, enters info the com.position of /, 

this lye, and by joining to it the fermented juices which I have designated i 

under the name of " leaven," which replace, or form a substitute for the action 



< 56 eommer's method 

I which the animal organization exercises upon urine, and which engenders 
I ammoniacal salts, you not only obtain a liquid richer than urine, (since you can 
I vary its elements, the mordant, and the action,) but still more advantageous, as 

you can at will make the whole quantity of juices which you may want to 
\ fabricate your manures for sowing tiiiie. 

The solution of the problem, " to replace the urine of cattle by an analogous 
I liquid, possessing the same virtues as urine, and which can be made at will, in 

as large quantities as is wanted," is one of the most important points of this 
> method. 

' Article Fifth. — Manner of making the manure. 

\ 

\ 1. Mode of making the manure prepared in this manner as short and fine its 

I you please- 

\ Question. You say. Article S, in the body of your work, that in order to 
; crush the ligneous vegetables, they should be spread evenly on the ground, 
; and the larger cattle be made to walk over them, or a roller be used, 
; so as to prepare them to become more thoroughly impregnated with the lye. 
\ All this 1 comprehend very well ; but the major part of these ligneous 
vegetables, such as stalks, stems, &c., though they may be crushed, will still 
retain their former length ; and though imbedded into the general mass of 
the heap, they will probably not become sufficiently approximated and united 
to render the mass compact, and of uniform density, so as to induce and facili- 
tate fermentation ; in short, though these materials may become softened 
through the effect of high fermentation, and as it were baked, and partly • 
relaxed and dissolved, yet they will not become sufficiently separated to be \ 
freely ploughed in and incorporated with the soil, especially if having under- i 
gone only a few days fermentation, so as to render the manure adapted to the ] 
soil, and the kind of vegetable for which it is intended. This being the case, \ 
how can this inconvenient defect be obviated by some simple and easy manage- | 
ment in the performance of the work ? \ 

Answer. Your observation is correct and judicious. The difficulty certainly \ 
can be remedied, and in this way : "' 

As regards the long pieces of stalks, roots, &c.,let them be put in the middle j 
of the heap, taking care to distribute them equally as the heap progresses in its 
construction. Arrange the heap in such a manner that these ligneous bodies 
are deposited in the middle of the heap, intermixed and surrounded with the I 
rest of the materials, such as straw, green vegetables, &c., so that the ligneous 
particles, which are adverse to approach and amalgamate, may be brought into | 
close contact with each other, pressed together, and thus fermentation induced. \ 
The fact is, that these ligneous bodies, though placed in the condition described, 
will not for some days become completely dissevered ; a long stalk or twig will j 
still retain its primitive length; but they will, as you say, have become sof- j 
tsned, trenchable, and baked through. When reduced to this state it is very 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 57 

easy to cut them, and by that means make the manure as fine as you please. 
i The cutting process may be performed as follows : 
I When the manure is to be brought out on the soil or field, a man, armed M'ith 
■ a cutting instrument, mounts the heap, and cuts into the mass lengthwise and 
crossways, over the whole surface of the heap, to the depth of ten or twelve 
inches, according to the capacity of the instrument. These incisions should 
be made from three to twelve inches apart, according to the degree of fineness 
desired. This operation being done, the wagons or carts are loaded with the 
manure thus cut up; and so soon as one perforated layer is carried off, the 
same process is repeated on another layer, then on a third, and so on, until the 
Avhole heap is cut up. A common hatchet maybe employed in this operation 
such as every farmer has on his premises, or if wishing to perform the work 
with greater despatch, a hatchet of larger dimensions maybe used, or a cutting 
instrument in the shape of the knives which are generally used in cider mills. 
It will be found, on experiment, that this labor is both easy and rapid in its 
execution, because the heap, being soft and yielding, yet compact, the cutting 
is effected promptly, and without much resistance ; indeed, one single man 
can, in half an hour, cut a layer of twenty inches depth, which, for every 
lajer from a large heap, yields at least twenty-five loads of manure. 

2. Necessity of the mixture of the leaves of trees, with other vegetables. 
Question. In the body of the method, Article 8, you speak of the mixture 
of the leaves of trees v/ith other vegetables. To what end do you make this 
particular recommendation ? 

Answer. I have expressly recommended this mixture for the reasons 
following : 

First ; leaves of trees, and especially dry leaves, contain very little feculant 
I matter and sugar, consequently their fermentous power is very feeble in com- 
parison with other vegetables ; it is necessary then to add to them materials 
which enclose more ferment than them, in order to aid their fermentation and i 
reduction. i 

And then, in operating by irrigation, as it is spoken of in the second process, \ 
j this intermixture is still more indispensable, inasmuch as the leaves take the \ 
\ lye difficultly, and if you put in a layer without mixture with other vegetables, 
they form iato balls, and become so glued together that the lye poured upon 
them touches only the surface of the ball or knot, flows on one side, and the 
watering does not attain its end, because the interior of the balls remain dry, 
the lye not having penetrated, from whence the fermentation will operate diffi- 
cultly, and their decomposition will become slow and imperfect. Whereas, 
mixed with other vegetables, the fermentation is more powerful, the leaves 
being parted through all the heap, the lye can reach them — they are moistened | 
and decompose. i 

If you operate upon leaves of trees, or other very short defective materials, 
which consequently heap up difficulty, it would be well then to construct of 
longer materials a bank upon the sides of the grate, all around, about a foot | 



eommer's method \ 



hio-h, and from a foot to eighteen inches thick ; by these means you will have '/ 
obtained a cavity of a foot in depth. It is in this last that you should throw '^ 
leaves, or other very short materials, taking care to mix them well, as they ^ 
are thrown into the c&s'iij. When the cavity is full, and the materials which \ 
have been thrown in are level with the bank, you finish this layer in the man- \ 
ner already indicated in the body of the method. i 

Then form a second layer in the same manner as the first, and thus continue ) 
until all the materials are heaped ; then cover the heap with straw, hay, or, in '? 
fine, the vegetables which always remain around the heap after the operation. \ 

3. Covering the heap- \ 

Question. You often repeat that we ought to cover the heap with straw or \ 
hay. It appears to me, that provided we cover theheap, it is of little importance ^ 
what with, the end is accomplished. I even think that if it was covered with planks 
or with earth it would only be the better for it, because in this manner the gases 
developed by the fermentation could not escape from the top of the heap ; then 
the boards still serve for putting stones upon them, in order still more to press 
the materials in case we should be acting upon vegetables which pack diffi- 
cultly, and which have not been sufficiently mixed with earthy substances to >, 
render the heap compact and solid, so as to facilitate fermentation. < 

Ansv/er. In truth I have intentionally made these repetitions, and for this \ 
reason. In our operation we ought to use all the means in our power to cause ^ 
the degree of heat necessary for the reduction of the m.aterials. Now, if we ,■ 
cover the heap with a good layer of earth, or with boards lying close together, ^ 
we smother the fermentation instead of developing it, because the necessary \ 
evaporation can only be effected from the top of the heap, whereas, when it is \ 
covered with a solid and compact body, it is interrupted in its course, which \ 
smothers, or at least which greatly enfeebles the fermentation. Then the air, \ 
an agent of our fermentation as powerful as the lye itself, not being able to \ 
penetrate the surface of the heap, we lose not only its action, but also \ 
its azote ; whereas, in covering the heap, as is prescribed, the evaporation can | 
\ be realized, it gives access to the air, and, in a word, these obstacles disappear. \ 
If you wish to cover the heap with boards, for the purpose mentioned in i 
your question, you should then not place them too close, and dispose them in ] 
such a manner as to leave intervals of five or six inches between each, in order 
that the evaporation may pass through these spaces. '> 

\ As to the loss of gases by evaporation, this loss is scarcely sensible, because 
\ nearly the whole of them are " fixed" in the materials, and particularly in 
] earthy matters, which are found mixed with the vegetables. As to the rest, 
') we should not wish v/hat is impossible. We cannot go against laws traced by 
/ nature herself; we retain what it is possible to retain, and that without preju- 
] dice to the entiie operation. This end being attained, we seek there to stop. 
^ Thus, you see how important it is to cover the heap in the manner prescribed, 
and how this point, so small in its appearance, becomes great in its conse- 
quences. I also seize upon this occasion to recommend to our patrons to con- 



I FOR MAKING MANURE. 



form to the prescriptions of the method, br at least not to depart too far from ^ 

the fundamental rules which are here traced ; for I repeat, that all which is j 

here reported is the result of numerous experiments, and that the various pro- | 

cesses have only been adopted after having observed, among many others, that ^ 

they were the best, and most proper to insure the success of om- operation. | 



I 4. Destruction of the heap, advantage lohich results from it. 

j Question. In the sam'^. Article 8, you counsel us to demolish the heap, and 
reconstruct it immediately after. What advantages result from this operation ? 

j Answer. In operating thus, you assure yourselves, 

j 1. The complete decomposition of the materials which were upon the side 

i of the heap, which nev^er decompose well there, not becoming enough pressed, \ 

> and wanting moisture ; also those at the bottom of the heap, which, in case of 
\ operating without the grate, are not entirely reduced, for the reason that they 
I are chilled by the ground upon which they rest. It is true that this portion is 
I very small, but we are trying to render the whole mass equally good. 

I 2. By the change of the place of the materials made by the new heaping, 

I the oxygen in the atmospheric air is renewed, and the lye reaches all parts of 

? the vegetables which had theretofore escaped ; all this causes a prompt and 

j powerful fermentation, which completes the operation. 

( This labor is particularly recommended to persons who have not yet had 

< practice and skill in the operation ; it is a certain means of insuring the success 
' of the operation. 

I 5. Labor. 

? Question. But this demolition increases the labor, which is already con- 

j siderable, and for this reason, I fear, many farmers will not execute it, for it is 

I true that there are some active farmers who do not much regard it, but it is 

I not less true that there are some who do, and to whom this branch will occa- 

'> sion some expense for laborers. In fact, should we not reduce the labor in 

> general } 

I Answer. Without doubt it can be reduced. I can only repeat to you, that 

>. it all depends upon ^the perfect or defective manner in which you have orga- 

< nized all your preparations. In answer to your whole question, I will say, 
\ that in nearly all well conducted farms, the hands attached to it are ordinarily 
'/ sufficiently numerous to give no cause for the employment of strangers on this 
/ occasion. The farmer, in pursuing his usual discretion, in the proper distribu- 
^ tion of the labors of his farm, so as to employ his force with the greatest advan- 
j tage, will certainly attain this end without any increase of hands. And 
J should he even, in the fabrication of his manures, employ two or three extra 
^, hands, what harm"can come of it .' Will not their labor be doubly repaid to 
I him in the increased products of his farm } In fact, it is altogether impossible 
^ for the farmer^ to make any sacrifice in fabricating masses of manure out of 

< elements which cost him nothing. As to the rest, he will be a lucky man who 

< accomplishes all his desires without previous labor. I am here endeavoring 
< 



60 eommer's method 

to insure to him the success of his agricultural operations, that is to say, to 
insure him nourishment for the year, to lay the groundwork of his fortune. 
Now this is well worth the pains of serious application to it, and to use the 
means which are in the power of every one to cause this result. 



SECTION THIRD. 

1. Composts. 

2. Means to augment the manure of a farm. 

3. Waterings. 

4. Summary of the principal advantages of this method. 

Article First. — Vegetable and Minei-al Composts. 

1. Mixture of vegetables with turfy materials. 

Question. In the section upon composts, Article l,you say, that upon two ', 

tons of hay or green vegetables, or upon one ton of dry vegetables we ought ^ 

to put a ton and a half of turfy materials. Now, can we not act upon these ^ 

last materials without mixing them with vegetables .' or, in case that the mix- i 

ture is necessary, can we not take less vegetables and more turfy materials : ^ 
And why ought we to permit this last matter* to dry .? 

Answer. It is here desired to produce a fermentation sufficiently high to 
decompose all these materials in a short space of time. Now, as the fermen- 
tative power exists in the vegetables, and as this power is more or less strong, ^ 
\ according as the vegetable is rich in diastase, in fecula, and in sugar, it follows, ^ 
\ that if we should use turfy materials without mixing them v>'ith vegetables, ^ 
\ our fermentation will never attain a degree of heat sufficient for prompt decom- ', 
position, because the turf being principally composed of roots and vegetables, S 
of which one part is already in putrefaction, does not of itself present a suffi- \ 
cient ferment for the action of our lye. It is necessary then to bring vegeta- \ 
bles to their support. > 
\ If your turfy materials are a little earthy and contain much undecomposed \ 
\ vegetable substance, you can double the quantity if you mix with dry vegeta- \ 
\ bles, or triple it if you mix with green. f 
\ You ought to permit these substances to get almost dry, because in this state \ 
I they absorb a larger quantity of the lye. \ 
j In regard to the process described in Article 2, you should understand that \ 
i here we can only obtain a moderate fermentation, seeing that we are using \ 
] manures which are already fermented, and which consequently can no longer ? 
\ develope a great heat. 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 



Here, again, you can double or triple the quantity of your turfy materials, if 
they are of the kind mentioned above. 

As to the mineral composts, there can be no question of fermentation, since 
we act only upon earthy materials. 

2. The most favorable season for the preparation of composts. 

Question. What is the most favorable time for the manufacture of com- 
posts } 

Answer. In regard to the vegetable composts of Article 1, you ought to 
prepare them in the season of the greatest abundance of green vegetables, and 
as to those of Article 2, they can be fabricated either in the spring, summer or 
autumn, but you ought always to prefer manures made out of green vegetables, 
to those made out of dry. They possess many advantages. 

The first is richer in substances which have a humus basis, and the mass 
is tenderer, more decomposed, more compact, more unctuous, from whence 
it follows that the compost which it produces, is superior to that which is ob- 
tained from the second. 

As to the mineral compost, it can be made at all seasons, at spare times. 
Nevertheless summer is more favorable than winter, as in winter the freezing 
weather may not only interrupt the operation, but it may also alter the quality 
of composts, for the mass being fresh and humid is apt to freeze, which it is 
very important should be prevented. 

If you wish to prepare this compost in winter, it will be well to put it in a 
close place, in order to shelter it from the severity of the weather. 

3. Is it advantageous to use compost in a fresh state ? 

Question. May we use these composts when fresh, that is, immediately after 
their dessication, or should we sufier them to become old .'' 

Ansv/er. You can spread these composts upon your grounds or meadows, 
immediately after their dessication, yet, in suffering it to become old, the vege- 
table compost increases in quality, while the remaining heaped up, it very 
nearly represents an artificial nitrous earth, or the rough matter of saltpetre, 
and as the nitre is a powerful agent in vegetation, it will follow that the older 
a compost is, the richer will it become in fertilizing substances. 

And as to the fermentation, it is not to be feared as it contains a large quantity 
of earthy materials, the fermentation of the heap is almost nothing. 

4. Preservation of composts. 

: Question. Hov/ should we preserve our composts .? 

; Answer. In regard to vegetable compost, its preservation is easy. You 

: form, as it is made, heaps 2, 3, 4 and five feet of height, and of any length or 

\ breadth. It will be well to place these heaps under a shed, as they should be 

> sheltered, yet if this disposition of them requires the construction of sheds, 

; and consef[uently some expense, you can to avoid expense, place them in the 

; open air, taking care to cover them with old boards, straw or hay in order to 

; preserve them from the rains. 



J 62 ' bommer's method J 

\ Concerning the mineral compost or earth manure, I repeat, that as soon as \ 
the mass is well stirred and kneaded, it should be divided into loaves of from ; 
60 to 100 Ihs ; these loaves should be put into a heap in such a manner that the ; 

\ air can pass through it so as to facilitate their drying, and that the heaps should 

i be made under a shed. 

i In this way these composts may be preserved for many years without injury 

J to their quality. They should be pulverized just before using them. 

I 6. Regvlations to observe in the fabrication of co7nposts. 

Question. What regulations should be made in the fabrication of composts .? 
} Answer. In the composition of vegetable and mineral composts you ought 
'/ to observe for rules. 

I 1st. That the more intimately the materials are mixed, the more the mass is 
I stirred and kneaded, and the older the compost grows, the more does it acquire 
^ fertilizing properties. 

I 2d. That it is unnecessary to observe the quantities and proportions of the 
s various ingredients prescribed in the method ; because it is to be understood 
^ that the force and value of the composts will be in proportion to the fertilizing 
> materials which you use and that you can double, triple, or quadruple the doses, 
I according as you wish to have your composts more or less strong, and accord- 
I ing to the various soils and plants to which they are to be applied. To this last 
I end, you ought to make predominate in the lye those particular ingredients 
/ which are especially necessary for the amendment of such and siich soils or to 
; the growth of such and such plants as is indicated in the preceding section : 
i Art. 2, sec. 4,7, 10 and 11. 

? 6. European Composts^ or moulds^ compared to mine. \ 

\ Question. In England and France the}^ also make composts by means of | 

\ ferm.entation. Are yours superior } And if they are, will you tell me the i 

I reason .? | 

I Answer. The English, although extremely advanced in the culture of the ; 

f earth, are precisely those who have made the least approaches to my liquid ^ 

t operation. They operate in the dry way. This is their process : They form > 

\ layers of ligneous vegetables, of lime and of earth. This operation is not < 

S only very long and very costly in lime, but the compost or manure which is '/ 

5 obtained after a year's delay and more, is often not of a good quality, for the I 

I reason that the quick lime, placed immediately in contact with the vegetables, ^ 

> sometimes destroys a large part of the humus Vv'hich the ligneous bodies would i 

I have furnished by their decomposition ; and if there should be too little lime, < 

5 notwithstanding the lapse of a considerable time, the decomposition would ^ 

■' not be sufficiently advanced. The proper medium in this operation is very I 

I difficult to observe ; whereas, by the liquid way, I compose a mould superior > 

I to that of the English in the space of a few hours, instead of a year. > 

< The Romans also make moulds for the culture of flax. With them, expe- ^ 

^ rience has for a long time shown, that rich manure was not favorable to the I 



r 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 63 



I grain of flax, which, by its diminuliveness, being in too close contact with the \ 

^ clod of manure, is often observed to fire before it has attained the first degree '■■ 

I of development. From whence they were driven to the composition of a > 

I mould in which the grain of flax could germinate, and into which its roots '^ 

' could easily penetrate, and take, little by little, its necessary nourishment, ^ 

without being engorged at once with too strong juices, and they fell upon the ^ 

following means. They take a bed of stable manure, and abed of eaith, and ^ 

occasionally stir them up, and in about a year they use this mould for the cul- I 

ture of flax, and also for other uses, but more particularly for flax. ^ 

This manure, incorporated dry wiih the earth, stirred many times in a year, ^ 

a large part of it is dissipated by a slow fermentation, by the air, rains, and i 

I the vegetation of enormous thistles, and other parasitical plants, which pump ^ 

^ all the juices, has, consequently, but feeble action; and, moreover, the mould ^ 

is incomplete, although it has taken much labor, and a year's time, to produce > 

it ; whereas my liquid way aims at a different object, that of disseminating at < 

once all the salts and substances, rich in humus, in the earthy materials, of ', 

which each grain, by means of its kneading, strongly retains these fertilizing ' 

princijjles, and administers them, little by little, to the plants, and without / 

engorgement, either for the reason that they are retained with more tenacity in '^ 

a kneaded earth, or because my lye is composed of nun.erous elements which ; 

decompose one after the other, according to the diversity of their natures. It ;; 

is known that a slow and prolonged fermentation is destructive to matter, and j 

that a rapid and energetic fermentation produces an augmentation in the bulk, ] 

rather than a loss. It is thus that beans, cooked in boiling water, lose none of •} 

their substance, they are only softened, and disposed to solubility, by means of } 

the digestive fermentation ; whereas, these same vegetable bodies, subjected l 

to a slow and dry fermentation, would be converted into powder, like chesnuts \ 

neglected in the hot ashes. ^. 

Well, it is this last result which is realized, not only in the Norman moulds, i 

I but also in all others which are fabricated dry, after a long fermentation ; > 

I whereas, if I decompose in a few days green vegetables, by means of my lye, \ 

I and my rapid fermentation, and if I knead the whole with an earthy material, ( 

> I avoid any loss of substance, and I compose a vegetable mould, which I can i 

] use with success at any time, whether in one year or many years, without its I 

\ fertilizing powers being weakened, while the other composts are gradually de- \ 

stroyed, in consequence of their faulty preparation, and for want of an intimate '^ 

amalgamation by the humid process. I 

6. Poudrette compared to my Composts. \ 

QuESTiox. There is yet another compost known under the name of pou- \ 

drette, where is it fabricated and how is it made .? One finds its use advan- i 

'{ tageous and another is of a contrary opinion — what do you think of it ? Do '; 

^ you think yours is superior .'' \ 

^ Answer. Poudrette is a compost of French origin. It is made in many of ? 

^ the large cities of France, but it has only within a few j^ears been made in 

\ America. Poudrette is fabricated of feculant material, that is, of human 



64 bommer's method ^ 



I excrements which they sometimes mix with earthy substances or plaster, for i 

\ the purpose, I suppose, of absorbing the ammonia of the feculant material. \ 

The effect in the 'earth of poudrette is more or less active and its use more or I 

[ less advantageous according to the species of ground and plants to which it is i 

( administered. This explains the diverse opinions which are entertained by | 

> farmers who have used it. In general poudrette as an active manure is of j 

\ short duration in the ground. Then this manure being fabricated of human < 

( excrements and the substance which they add to it being in too small quan- | 

I tities to prevent the too great solubility of the matter, and for the long reten- I 

i tion of its fertilizing principle, in order to feed little by little, the plant in its j 

', various stages of vegetation, it follows that by freeing itself of too much of ^ 

'/ the juices at a time, it engorges the roots of the plants and injures the deve- ^ 

'f lopment of the vegetable, especially in sandy, light and warm soils. Again, / 

f the feculant material, rich in its primitive state in fertilizing substances, under- > 

' goes in its reduction to poudrette, by the manipulation, the washing, the eva- i 

\ poration occasioned by its long exposure to the air, a loss which we may con- \ 

\ fidently estimate at one-half. In fine, its use is expensive. Now, in my com- \ 

; posts I use feculant materials in their fresh state, which I there fix and disse- \ 

\ minate them largely among earthy materials, each grain of which having been ) 

't kneaded with it, retains in force its fertilizing principles, to administer them ^^ 

\ little by little to the plants and without engorgement, either by reason of its ;; 

\ beino- more divided and retained with more tenacity in a kneaded earth, or \ 

i because I incorporate them with amendments which decompose one after the '> 

^ other, according to the diversity of their natures, and, in short, the farmer / 

'i fabricates my composts himself and vfith elements which cost him nothing. ^ 

\ Notwithstanding, judge yourself which of the composts is the best and most \ 

'i advantao-eous to agricallure, the English, French, poudrette or mine. \ 

1 ° . I 

\ Article Second. — Means to augment considerably the manures of a farm. > 

\ . \ 

} 1. Dried earth in place of straiv, as litter for beasts. i, 

\ Question. There are some farmers who put dried earth in their stables, ' 

] and particularly in their barn-yards, in place of straw for litter for their cattle, i 

I Does this system appear' to you advantageous ? ^ 

i Answer. This system is assuredly advantageous, and now it acquires so I 

i much the more importance, and becomes so much the more recommendable, as / 

^ the present method gives jo\i the facility to reduce the straw which you had j 

< designed for litter, into manure, without the aid of cattle. So, amass, in fair i 

^ weather, near your barn-yard and stables, piles of dry earth, which in general ^ 

^ should be of a different nature from that of the field which you wish to manure, < 

I if it is possible, because then you carry an amendment to the soil, which straw 5 

> is not. Put this earth in your barn -yard and stables, and the result will be, ^ 

^ that the dung and the urine will be absorbed by the earth, which immediately > 

i purifies them ; whereas the straw, in decomposing, adds one putrefaction to I 

;; another ; that the earth will absorb and retain the gases, consequently you / 



J 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 65 



'/ will not have putrid emanations nor loss of gas, there will be salubrity for both ;; 

'< man and beast. This earth, impregnated with dung and urine, kneaded under J 

[ the feet of the cattle, will lose nothing which has been given to it ; put it into ', 

\ a heap guarded from waters, or under sheds, and they v/ill alvs-^ays preserve 't 

\ their fecundating properties entire. ^ 

\ This system is the most seriously advantageous and economical to fabricate '> 

\ masses of manure for nearly the whole year, that is, to preserve without fail \ 

'; the animal dejections, and administering them to plants without any loss, in '< 

'i augmenting the mass by the even division of the matter, of which each grain \ 

\ of earth retains a part, and which it only abandons in proportion to the v/ants ^ 

^ of the plant, and this can be done without causing any fear that the cattle may K 

\ be hurt or incommoded by the earth which is dry, light and sweet ; you then ^ 

^ convert your straw, and other vegetables, into manure at seeding time, either s 

'f in March or October. \ 

t $ 

/^ These are the two months of the year in which you can put straw under ^ 

\ your cattle, if you desire it, because at this time the straw can be fermented [ 

\ regularly by the aid of this method. Thus, in these two months, put straw ^ 

\ under your cattle, or earth, it matters little which at this time, as all the straw j 

''i will be converted into manure by waterings with the \je.. Thus all your ^ 

'\ manures are warm and equally matured, as the dung of a horse, of which all ^ 

^ its parts are submitted to the saine fermentation as in the intestines, by the aid \ 

\ of the same juices. \ 

i . ' 

'i If you have twenty-five tons of straw on the first of October, you will have, \ 

'/ by the fifteenth of October, one hundred tons of manure, worth double one \ 

\ hundred tons of stable or barn-yard manure, because the first is rich in juice, < 

\ equal in its parts, and all v^arm ; whereas the second is an inactive body, < 

\ washed by the rains of many months, dried out by the sun, cold, spongy, and s 

\ scarcely colored by the juices, v/hich are gone. > 

< Do you know what will be the result of this manner of operating .? Not <> 

\ only you will have lost nothing in retaining captive all the animal manure in ^ 

the earth, but you will have double and triple the quantity of manure, because \ 

\ prolonged fermentation destroys even more than one-half, and your manure is 

\ new, powerful, active, and appropriated to j'-our soil, and to the plants which you 

\ cultivate according to all the phases of their vegetation, and it will act beyond 

r your hopes. It is time you should cease to calculate manure by its volume 

'f and its weight, and to demand how many cart loads to the acre ! Look to the 

'/ quality of it. Do you not believe that a few ounces of beef are more 

/ nourishing to a man than a pound of potatoes ? Yes, Mr. Dumas is right, 

\ there is a perfect analogy between animals and plants, and if in France this \ 

\ learned man was the first to proclaim this truth, I will be, in America, the first < 

\ to have made its application in varying, and in ameliorating the nourishment \ 

] of plants according to their wants, like nature, who has destined for each ^ 

> animal a different nourishment, and such as is suitable to its constitution. \ 

9 I 



bommer's method 

2. Immense advantages of the employment of human excrements^ or animal 
\ dejections. 

QuESTioisr. I can see very well the utility of feculant materials, but it appears 
to me that the quantity of human excrements produced by nine or ten persons 
living upon a farm, will scarcely serve to manure five acres. Now, if my 
farm is of one hundred acres extent, there will remain ninety-five acres 
which have not received this manuring. What say you ? 

Answer. The generality of large cities have but one river, or one water 
source for all their population, but these waters, distributed in small streams in 
each quarter, quench the thirst of all its inhabitants. It is the same with 
animal manure, which, distributed wilh skill through a great quantity of vege- 
i tables or minerals, can feed a great deal of ground. The better to make you 
I feel this truth, I give it as the result of my own observations, that a man ren- 
l ders per day at least three pounds of urine and other matters. In supposing 
I yet a loss of tv/o pounds of urine in the fields ; this, multiplied by 365 days, 
^ gives a yearly product of 1,100 lbs. per person, or 11,000 lbs. for the ten 
i persons who ordinarily live upon a farm. Well, with these 11,000 lbs. of 
^ matter or liquids, by adding to them the elements Vv'hich I have indicated in 
I the table, you may produce 220,000 lbs. of manure, superior in quality to the 
I same quantity of cattle manure. Now, acting upon a similar system, not only 
I with human excrements, but also with the dung of cattle, will produc us 
i such an enormous quantity of manure that we may confidently say, th t my 
^ method contains an entire agricultural revolution, for in agriculture everything 
/ is linked together, and if you applv more than 500,000 lbs. of manure, you 
^ will after that have more forage, consequently more cattle, consequently more 
^ manure ; more straw of all kinds, consequently more material to feed your 
i manure manufactory ; in a word, an infinite chain of successive amelioration. 

5 Article Third. — Waterings- 

1. Effect of watering compared to that of my mineral composts. 

Question. In Article 8, in the body of the method, you say, that it is more 
advantageous to fix the purin, or juice of the manure heap, in the composts, 
] than to employ it in waterings. What is the advantage which results from 
this } 

Answer. Substances which fertilize the earth evaporate so rapidly that it 
is important to fix them in a solid body, rather than to put them in contact 
with the air by liqu'd exposure ; because, independently of the disagreeable 
taste which waterings wilh urine, or other corrupted matters, impart some- 
times to forage and other plants, they present the further inconvenience of per- 
mitting the evaporation and loss of a large part of their fertilizing substances ; 
whereas, in fixing these same liquids in earth, and by adding to them the other 
elements of the lye, you obtain an earth manure, with which you manure plants, 
by distributing to each a little nourishment, and thus you amend the soil, you do 



not harden it; on the contrary, you hold it permeable to the rays of the sun, ] 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 



which hastens the growth of plants ; and, notwithstanding the temporary humi- 
dity which is given to plants by watering, the mould or earth manure impreg- 
nates itself with dew ; maintains the vegetables a longer time in superior fresh- 
ness, and is more lasting, since it is both manure and amendment at once. Besides, 
this earth manure is prepared at spare times. When you make your compost pre- 
parations for seeding lime, you can use these liquids as they are obtained, at least 
in the seasons when you do not manure the land ; whereas, with waterings, when 
the purin vat is full, the farmer is compelled to use his liquid manure even- 
before the proper time for manuring has arrived. It is then a forced labor. In 
short, they manure a much larger surface wdth earth manure, which they 
s,)read in a greater or less quantity, according to the case, and which they 
throw in an equal manner upon all parts of the soil ; whereas, by waterings 
upon an uneven surface, (for a perfect level is not to be found in fields,) the 
liquor is nearly all carried from the prominences into the depressions of the 
field, so that at least it is very sure of being spread in an unequal manner. I 
have made enough waterings to be able to affirm these results to farmers. 
Further I do not intend to impose rules upon agriculture. The two systems 
may offer their advantages according to the nature of soil and plants. It is 
with this view that I have put the process in the body of the method. But 
I ought to state a fact, which is, that the effect of mineral composts, or earth 
manures, upon sluggish grounds, have been much more sensible than water- 
ings made even with my lye. 

2. Liquid manures compared to my composts. 

Question. I have read, in an agricultural journal, that in some countries of \ 
Kurope they make use of liquid manures, and that they obtain from them good 
results. What are their processes ? To what kind of plants is this manure ] 
administered ? What is its quality ? Is it superior to your composts ? | 

Answer. In various countries of Germany and France, they use feculant 
materials in their primitive state, that is, in liquid, especially in Alsace, but S 
more particularly in French Flanders, and this is the Flemish process : — 

Each farmer constructs a cellar in masonry some six hundred feet from his \ 
farm buildings. The bottom of the cellar is paved, and the four walls of the j 
cylindrical vault which they support are built of brick. If the farm is large 
they establish many cellars, one after the other. They give to each cave two 
openings, one in the thickness of the vault and in the middle, the other in the 
north wall and in the surface of the circle of the vault. The first serves to 
introduce the substances, it is shut by a thick window ; the second, a smaller 
o,J3ning to the north, gives access to the air, which is necessary to start the 
fermentation. An ordinary cellar contains from 350 to 400 barrels of matter. 

Through the whole year, and especially when work presses the least, the 
farmers go to the neighboring cities in search of night soil, which they empty 
into these vaults, and in the course of some months fermentation this liquid 
manure is carried upon the field by means of a cart, from the tail of which the 
liquid is permitted to flow. 




QQ EOMMER's method I 



The use of this manure is principally reserved for the culture of oleaginous < 
plants colza,* flax, and also tobacco. They also make it serve to water \ 
i the seeds of succulent plants intended for provender, such as carrots, turnips, < 
I &c. They spread it before and after seeding, or after transplanting. The ^ 

< transplants, especially those with large leaves, such as tobacco and colza, ^ 
I acquire in a few days great vigor. > ! 
i Such is the general feature of Flemish liquid manure. The Flemming is \ 
I proud of this mode of manuring, which with him is perfectly successful ; but | 
I as, in my opinion, what is good in one country, may be good for nothing in ' 
i another, I will endeavor to establish, that in America the application of this | 
j system would be dangerous. ( 
i From whence comes it that the Flemmings use with success their liquid ; 
/ manure r It is that their soil, in general, is cold, and that a warm and quickly \ 
/ soluble mam re is necessary for all cold and sluggish grounds. 

' In America, where the climate is warm, the vegetation extremely active, 
I the ground in general rather light than strong, rather warm and voracious than j 
\ cold, earth manure, or composts, suit them better, because it serves to refresh | 
\ the soil, rather than to heat it more by a liquid manure, which is soluble as i 
I soon as it is put into the ground, and which renders the ground yet more \ 
'f craving for moisture, and drier after the watering. Now, to adopt the Flemish 

< manure in America would be unwise. | 

< As to the liquid manures having urine for their basis, do you know what you | 
I carry upon the field with a cask of a thousand pounds of this liquid .'' Kine ; 
; hundred pounds of water certainly, which have not more fertilizing power than < 
i ordinary water. Chemists have decomposed urine, and have always found 

\ that it contained 940 lbs. of water. Well, is it not better, and worth more, to j 
i carry out earth which shall have absorbed 1,000 lbs. of purin, because, after 

< drying, the water will have disappeared, and this earth will have retained only ' 
^ the salts, and the substance of the purin. Whereas, if you spread your liquid J 

> upon a large surface, it loses a greater part of its gases by evaporation, it de- i 
/ velopes weeds rapidly, and it is of short duration, because it is soluble \ 
'i from the day of its application. Then you spread your liquid very unequally, | 
\ because there does not exist a perfect plain, and water always seeking its level, i 
\ will naturally settle more upon concave points than upon convex ; from whence 

' it follows, that some plants are but little fed, and others are burnt up or en- s 

I o-oro-ed by too much nourishing substance at a time. L it should co.i e on to > 

] rain a little while after the liquid manuring, the maimre, which is soluble, > 

spreads, and e.'icapes under the layer of vegetable earth- > 

None of these inconveniences are present with my mineral compost or earth > 

> manure ; the contrary is realized, because this earthy manure is put at the roots '< 
\ of the plant, where it manures and amends at the same time, whereas the 

liquid manure hardens the soil and volatilizes itself. < 

But you say you do not see any advantage in liquid manuring, and yet you 



* The name of a flemish vegetable, from the seed of which a lamp oil is extracted. 




cannot deny that the germination is mere prompt, and that it diminishes the 

^ chance of the grain being devoured by insects before coming up. 

] I acknowledge that the argument vould be good if there did not exist other ) 

', means to make the grain sprout rapidly ; but the soaking in lime water, to ^ 

I which every kind of grain ought to be submitted before sowing, will produce / 

/ the same effect, and certainly the lime which envelopes it would be more fatal > 

\ to insects. Soot produces hho the sam.e efTect, and cultivators of melons in / 

< the south of PVance, never neglect, before sowing, to soak this seed twenty- ; 
; four hours at least in advance, i^i a tub of soot water. \ 
'/ Besides, I will show you a new kind of soaking, which is a consequence of ] 
'i this method, and which, according to my own experiments, I believe to be the '' 
^ best of any known. / 

< Before planting or seeding the grain, let it remain twenty-four hours in a ;; 
I bath of lye made after this method. 'i'his soaking accelerates, in an > 
;; astonishing manner, the germination of seed, especially those which had cap- I 
/ sules, such as beans, red clover, peas, lentils, &c. ; and they are not devoured ^ 
', by insects, by reason of the bitterness and acrid taste occasioned by their steeping. ? 
i The only advantage that I recognize in liquid manuring, and in this case it ^ 
] is limited, is in transplanting, because the plant being wrested from its nourish- ^ 
I ing parent, in its instinctive efibrts to resume the course of its interrupted life, '. 
I seeks a quickly soluble nourishment which will rapidly repair its lost strength. I 
I Thus, farmers and gardeners who practise transplanting, have observed that > 
;; their liquid manure in this case produces wonders, but is rather a remedy than I 

< a nourishment. It is the same as when a tree is sick, the surest means to \ 
\ save it is to administer a liquid nourishment, as it has not the time to await the ^ 
\ decomposition of a compact manure. It is as the succulent broth which is '/ 
i given to a convalescent when a morsel of bread or of beef might compromise I 
'; his existence. f 
I To resume, I do not observe, then, but a single advantage in liquid manuring 'i 
\ which is sooner to reanimate transplanted vegetables, and I can scarcely make '> 
I this concession, because, if the transplants were watered immediately with I* 
i pure water, or if there happen a seasonable rain, it would restore them every 
^ bit as well, taking it for granted that the soil was manured. 
^ Secure of success with my method, I condemn the system of hquid manures 
i and waterings for general use. You may perhaps make an objection to my 

< composts ; you may tell me that often one has not earth to sacrifice for com- 

< posts, that they would be obliged to take it from a vegetable layer. If, indeed, 
J there is but little vegetable earth, or if there is neither inequality of ground, 
i nor slime, nor mud, the system of composts may cause some embarrassment; 

< but as it results that this earth, which is taken from the vegetable layer, is not 

< lost, as it is a conductor of manure, as it rests upon the soil of the same pro- 
i prietor, I believe that there are very few cases in which it would be impossible \ 
s to displace a sufficient quantity of earth for this purpose. J 
j I conclude, then, that my composts constitutes one of the most important i 

> > 

5 > 

> / 



70 eommer's method •' 

points of my melhod, that il will for ever replace all the composts fabricated in ;! 

the dry way, and also in the liquid manures. ^ 

The three last chapters of the first part being of a secondary interest, and / 

as they are besides sufficiently explained by the preceding, I will terminate ' 

this second part by the recapitulation of the advantages which result from the I 

application of this system. ^ 

Article Fourth. — Summary of the principal advantages of this Method. ^ 

From the whole of the first and the second parts, it will result that this ;; 

method presents to agriculturalists the following advantages : ' 

1st. The decomposition, in a few days, of all straw, and green or dry ligneous 't 

vegetables, and their conversion into a rich, unctuous and durable manure. > 

So with all sorts of straws, whether wheat, barley, rye, oats, buckwheat, &c., j 

potato vines, corn and tobacco stalks, and, in short, all kinds of plants, green I 

or dry ; leaves from the woods, sugar-cane, and the like ; all kinds of weeds, \ 
sea ores, rushes, docks, salt meadow grass, briers, heaths, clods of turf, peat; 
in a word, all substances proceeding from vegetation, and a multitude of other 
objects which lie about a farm, can, by this method, be converted into manure. 

2d. That those who have straw at their disposal can convert it into manure 

immediat;^ly after the grain harvest and according to their localities, and will I 

be in a condition to obtain, in the same year, a second harvest, instead of wait- ^ 

ing nearly a year to convert, day by day, their straw into manure, under the I 

feet of their cattle. I 

3d. That those who may not have straw, will make their manure with lig- I 

n"Ous plants, weeds and any vegetables whatever, ofwhich the greater part will / 

decompose by ordinary means only in a few years. i 

4th. That each one can himself fabricate his manures at will, consequently ^ 

make his manure.s at the time when it is necessary to put them in the ground, ;; 

an advantage the more precious, as it is the only means of preventing them <} 

from being mouldered, damaged and despoiled of their juices. ;; 

5lh. That he can make his manures much more durable than those which > 

he buys or fabricates by the aid of cattle, because he conceives that divers I 

substances which decompose but slowly and successively, having been bedded '^ 

to"-ether intimately, and divided by a liquid, ought to form various aggregates ^ 

which th? earth could decompose but slowly and one after the other. / 

6th. That he can easily, and without any complication, vary the manure ;; 

according to the climate, the nature of the soil and the plants. ^ 

7th. That by means of a manure graduated and appropriated to the nature ^ 

of the vegetable planted, he can force all kinds of plants with a vigor hereto- ^/ 

fore unknown. ^ 

8th. That he can render useful what has heretofore been lost, particularly I 

what annoys and infects habitations, such as rank weeds, litter of all kinds, '', 

which accumulate about farms and houses, feculant materials, urines of the ^ 

house, remains of animals, suds, kitchen slops ; in short, all the residues of I 

the house. i 



L. 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 71 

9th. That the lye is macle cold, -without chemical preparation ; that nearly 
the whole of the ingredients of which it is composed are found on each farm 
and without cost ; that the water which is the base of the system costs no- 
thing ; that, in fine, every thing concurs to render it economical. 

10th. That by the great quantity of liquid which enters into its fabrication, 
the weight of the dry material is more than quadrupled, and that of the green 
vegetables is more than doubled. 

11th. That he Avill destroy, through the high fermentation, the germ of weeds 
which always infest the materials of manure, so that this manure will not pro- 
duce weeds upon the field, or other grain than you sow. That the lye thrown 
upon the manure heap of a farm, also causes the same result. 

12th. That he can rot his manure regularly, that is, that he can render it 
equally good and unctuous in all its parts, by means of a lye which distributes 
the salts and the soluble parts in a regular and uniform manner, which pro- 
duces an equal crop upon parts of the field. 

13. That the system of watering with lye presents the advantage that the 
manure heaps will no more be white, or mouldered, because ths-y are 
maintained in all their parts by an equal moisture, forming a soft and blackish 
mass, in which one part is neither fed nor moistened at the expense of the 
other. 

14th. That those w^ho have neither straw nor vegetables can convert even 
the earth or soil upon the place into a very fertilizing earth manure. 

15th. That he can, with the greatest facility, and in a little time, make 
composts which will surpass in quality the ordinary composts of the whole 
country, which are barely obtained in one or two years. 

16Lh. That this earth manure will offer the advantage of being able, in the 
spring, to enliven the seeded fields, which may have suffered from the rigors 
of the winter, and to manure the grain which may have been sown without 
manure. 

17th. That these composts, or earth manure, are very precious to the culture 
of corn, tobacco, sugar-cane, cotton, and at the foot of trees, in gardening ; the 
mineral compost has a great effect upon meadows. 

18th. In fine, that these composts maintain the freshness of the soil, and 
rapidly develope a glorious vegetation, especially when applied to fields of 
small grain. 

19lh. That by means of the lye it will be easy to multiply the manure heaps 
of a farm, which should only serve as a leaven to convert the masses of 
vegetables into manure. 

20th. That he can, without fear of depriving his arable lands of manure, 
break up his pasture lands, since he can multiply his manure heaps without 
enfeebling them. 

21st. That by multiplying his manures he can entirely suppress the ruinous 

system of fallowing ; for, since our wants are perpetually recurring, the earth 

I should not rest in giving forth her abundance ; she sleeps only in winter, or 

! during the excessive heat of the summer ; in all other seasons, if you will 

I only confide to her good manure, she will produce. 



72 BOMMER S METHOD. ) 

22d. That all ponds, and residues of distilleries, and manufactories, can be > 

reduced to manure. \ 

23d. That gardeners can reanimate their hot-beds without chansing their ; 

manure ; that they can obtain early produce much sooner than with the systems ; 

now in use, whilst they can make their manure as strong as they wish it. =; 

24th. That the products obtained from this manure will, in general, be more ^ 

\ substantial ; the forage and pulse more succulent, the grain heavier, &c. ;* l 

I because this manure, being well m.atured, combines all the necessary elements i 

( for the fertilization of the ground, and the proper nourishment of plants. In ? 

< a word, that its use will cause an infinity of ameliorations in agricultural ^ 

^' 1 , ■' 

; products. ', 

'•'. Such is the merit of this system, and such are the qualities which recommend \ 

< it to the use of farmers. s 
\ In the face of advantages so great, so positive, and so clearly demonstrated ' 
't and proven, we are no longer permitted to doubt that this method will render a ] 
', great service to the country in augmenting the products of the soil, and that it i 
'.\ will he a source of riches to individuals in putting them in a condition to double ^ 
/ their crops. The most incurable prejudice, or utter folly, will alone be blinded ^ 
\ to its utility. \ 



SECTION FOURTH. 



SUPPLExMENTARY ARTICLES AS THE CONSEQUENCE OF THIS METHOD. 



1. Analysis of ear ihs. 

2. Division of manures- 

3. Preservation of manmes. 

4. Practical results of the method. 



t Article First. — Analysis of earths. ^ 

I I 

'i The first studv of a farmer should be a knowledge of the different natures ' 

i " .... ') 

'/ of the grounds which he cultivates, their various qualities, what they are ;; 

'> caoable of producing, and the manures which are suitable to them, so as to \ 

\ * Hera I ought to acknowledge, that I have for a long while hesitated to mention this 'i 

I virtue of my manure, and if J have at length done so, it is certainly not to extol the system, \ 

'/ but merely to obey my convictions, for the products obtained from this manure have always t 

't been of a quality superior to those obtained from other manures. I have done it also, so as J 

' not to bs bahind my subscribers, who, after having proved it in the ground, would, like me, ^ 

'f recognize this virtue, and who then miglit believe that I was ignorant of it. I have, in 'i 

'/ fine, hesitaicd, hecause this virtue is of such immense importance to the destinies of the ^ 

\ country that I had hardly dared to name it. ^ 

S J 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 73 



modify these grounds by amendments, (which are also a mode of manuring,) (, 

that is, by the mixture of various earths of opposite or different natures, or the I 

introduction into the soil of such vegetable or mineral substances as may tend to / 

modify the original nature of the tillable soil. '/ 



1 . Simple means to detect the nature of earths, without the aid of chemistry. I 

Question. How, without the aid of chemistry, can a farmer learn approxi- ' 

mately the nature of his grounds ? ^ 

Answer. Without the aid of chemistry, or the art to decompose bodies, it is | 

difficult to analyze grounds with exactness, but it is, nevertheless, very easy to ^ 

make an incomplete, and in most cases a sufficient analysis, without the aid of i 

science. i 

What is of most importance to know is : s 

1st. Is there lime in the soil ? \ 

2d. Is it clayey or sandy .? 

3d. Does it contain much or little of humus ? 

You can proceed in the following manner : 

Physical analysis, or that which can be appreciated by the senses. 



1st. To detect the presence of lime. 

At different places in the field mix a small quantity of earth to the depth of 
the soil, and take a little from each mixture, so that you may have a handful 
of the average soil ; dry it by the fire or the sun ; then throw strong vinegar 
upon it. If it effervesces rapidly, that is, if it bubbles up, or puffs into small 
blisters, it is a proof that the earth is very calcarious, and that it contains more 
or less lime. If its bubbling is sluggish, there is but little lime ; if it does not 
effervesce, the ground is not calcarious, or it contains no lime. 

I This point it is of the utmost importance to know. 

I 2d. We wish to know if the earth is argillaceous or silicious, (clayey or 

/ sandy.) Rub between the thumb and finger a pinch of the moistened earth, 
and it is easy to judge by the touch if it is smooth, soft or rough, or if it is 

\ clayey or sandy. If the argil prevails, the touch is smooth, soft and soapy ; 

< if the silex or sand prevails the touch is rough. 

i This is a certain way to know, not the exact quantity of clay or sand which \ 
'. this earth contains, but whether the clay or sand predominates. 
\ If you wish to approach nearer to the truth, you put this earth in a bottle I 
I half full of water, shake it well, and after standing a little while pour it into a > 

< basin ; the argil or alumine goes with the first water, and the sand or silex, \ 
^ which is heavier in consequence of its parts being coarser than those of the clay, I 
'i remain at the bottom. Filter this argillaceous water through blotting paper, dry \ 

< it, and do the same with the sand. When the two earths are separated, and j 
;• dry, weigh them, and you will see whether there is more of sand or of clay. I 
\ Before this last operation, you throw some strong vinegar upon this earth | 
i to disengage the carbonic acid, or that part of the air which the lime retains ? 
I as long as the vinegar has not expelled it. It follows from that, that if there 



? 74 bommer's method ^ 

^ is^very near as much sand as clay, it is a free earth. If there is much more \ 

\ sand than clay, it is sandy ground, and if the clay prevails much it is argilla- { 

\ ceous ground. Free earth is composed of forty-five per cent, sand, about forty- ; 

\ five clay, five per cent, lime, and about five per cent, humus. I 

\ 3d. In order to knovr if the ground contains much humus, or decomposed \ 
remains of animal or vegetable matter, or is in a state of decomposition w hich , 

\ is very variable, place this earth, well dried and weighed previously, in a ^^ 

' pot, or crucible of metal or earth, which you put upon a quick fire, (before \ 

\ the operations of which I speak in numbers 1 and 2,) and then stir it for some \ 

•/ minutes. If there is much animal matter, a strong odor of burnt feathers is \ 

\ disengaged. If the material is vegetable, and the fire is sufiiciently strong, ycu | 

[ will see a blue flame. This is also easy to discover, by putting in contact with i 

'i the interior bottom of the pot, a small piece of very dry wood ; if it inflames, 5 

\ the vegetable detritus should consume ; then weigh it, and as the burnt \ 

^ animal or vegetable parts have scarcely any weight, (nothing of ihem being \ 

{ left but their ashes,) you will know very nearly, ly means of a new weighing, ^ 

\ how much was contained in the earth. The knowledge of the principles of ^> 

\ lime, and of humus, is essential. Now, each one can m.oke ihis analysis of \ 

\ his lands ; it is only necessary for him to have a little concentrated vinegar, i 

<) and the balance of the house. 

2. Advantage resulting from this analysis. 

Question. What is the advantage, the utility of this analysis.'' 
Answer. It will be of great use to you, because, if you observe that your I 

soil is very calcarious, it would be useless to heat your grounds, and put n.uch ■ 
lime into your manure lye ; you will also then know what kinds of grasses Lest } 
suit your lands. < 

3. Interest lohich every one has in knowing the nature of his lands. i 
Question. But what interest have I in knowing whether my lands are free, I 

sandy or clayey, one knows by his experience what kinds of plants are most / 
suitable for his grounds } ] 

Answer. Certainly ; but if you know that your soil is free, you are not \ 
io-norant that you are in the best condition to obtain the finest products If i 
your ground is clayey, you seek the means to amend it Avith sand, in order to > 
approach free soil. In fine, if it is sandy you strive to amend it with clayey > 
ground in the vicinity, or with sub-soil, at least if you do not wish to cultivate \ 
bulbous rooted plants, which prosper in ground where, out of fifteen parts, ^ 
there are fourteen of sand. You have also this advantage, to be able, by > 
means of amendments, to introduce into your fields new cultures, especially l 
when you know how to vary and appropriate your manures. •> 

4. Means to detect marl. ^ 
Question. Will this process enable us to discover marl, for I know how it > 

acts, but I am ignorant of what it is composed ? 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 75 < 

i Answer. Nothing is more simple than to detect marl, whether white, carroty > 

'f or brown, sandy or argillaceous. NVhenevervoudoubtwhetheryou have discover- ^ 

;• ed an earth which contains marJ, you should throw upon it strong vinegar ; if it i 

> effervesces very rapidly, and if this earth contains a third of alumine or argil, < 

I or of impalpable matter, you may be very sure of its being argillaceous marl ; I 

I if, on the contrary, it contains more sand than clay, it is silicious, and then you I 

f employ it as an amendment, in applying the one and the other to earths of an \ 

<: opposite nature. ^ 

I Article Second. — Division of manures. s 

^ . . I 

'/ 1. Manure heaped up at a ay poivt is prejudicial to vegetation at that place. \ 

[ Question. What is the advantage which results from the judicious division ', 

^ of manures .^ \ 

\ Answer. It is remarked that the plants do not require manure heaped upon \ 

\ a point, as it is rather an obstacle to the play and development of the roots. \ 

', Therefore divide the manure, especially animal manure, which loses so soon its t 

^ fertilizing properties by atmospheric influence, and the attack of insects. By \ 

'/ attending to this you double or triple the means of action. \ 

\ In order to make you comprehend well the advantage which results from ', 

^ the division of manures, 1 will cite some examnles. I 

/. ) 

'/ \ 

\ 2. Advantage resulting from the division of manure. \ 

'/ Bury a small quantity of human manure at the foot of a mulberry. The ^ 

\ lateral roots of the tree will turn aside to this aliment, but these roots can only \ 

^ appropriate a small portion of these matters, and this principle tends so rapidly \ 

^ to its destruction, that it is suddenly attacked by insects, and there results a \ 

\ loss which may be valued at nine-tenths, and yet the mulberry will not be / 

^ found to have nourished itself through more than one or two roots. See, then, \ 

', a material which, placed in an unfavorable condition, is almost totally lost, f^ 

] Now, for example, I throw in three pints of water ; I dissolve it by stirring ; < 

;! I uncover the earth around the mulberry ; I pour a little of this lye all over ; I ;; 

/ cover it w^ith the earth which had been removed, and I obtain a positive result \ 

'/. from this simple division of the element of manure. We know very well that \ 

*> nothing ii lost, the insects cannot get at it, each particle of earth is impreg- ^ 

\ nated with a fraction of the manure, which it keeps to administer to the roots \ 

\ all around. | 

\ We see upon a meadow fresh dung which the ox has dropped, and which, 

\ in some days, will be devoured by insects and dried by the air and the sun. 

^ I pick up this fresh dung, and I dissolve it in water, I fix the liquid in the 

\ earth, and with this earth pulverized, I feed a superfices ten times larger than 

\ it occupied when first dropped. The place where the animal had dropped it 

\ is found sufficiently manured after the matter has been removed from it; and 

\ I avoid this crcwd of insects, which, coming out of the matter full winged 

\ multiply where the dung has fallen, to torment and distract the cattle. 



EOMMER'S METHOD 

What in effect do I do ? I charge a boy of the farm to gather all the dejec- 
tions of my cattle which can be conveniently done, I throw them into my 
reservoir of saturated water, and while enriching this water with fertilizing I 
principles, I, at the same time, accelerate its putrefaction, and in having a satu- 
rated water well corrupted and well charged with animal materials, I can 
then, in the fabrication of my manures, diminish the quantities of the other 
ingredients of the lye, without injury to the quality of my manure, and I { 
have attained this economy by the sole reason that I have lost nothing. 

A horse dies ; I suppose that a farmer divides it and spreads pieces of its 

flesh upon various points, or more intelligent still, that he places it in a hole, in 

putting light earth above and below with lime, as is also recommended by our 

best authors. What are the consequences .? In the first case, the dogs, the 

crows, the rats and other beasts will have retaken that which seems to haye 

been their own of right, or, at least, scarcely will some particles of earth give 

here and there a little manure ; and in the second case, he will have obtained 

a certain quantity of earth charged with animal matter. But in this last case, 

also, the loss will have been immense, because the insects and the atmosphere, 

which always penetrate the soil will have, during a space of four or five months, 

the time necessary for the destruction of the flesh, taken away nine-tenths of 

the value of the animal. Now, v/hat is my practice .'' I put the animal in the 

middle of a large heap of manure, after having cut it into many pieces, in 

order to facilitate its adjustment in the heap ; and that it may decompose itself 

more easily, I make five or six waterings, in place of three, after having 

added a little more lime to the lye. This animal weighed 500 lbs. I obtain 

^ in 20 or 25 days, 2,500 lbs. of a valuable extract, with which, in adding some 

i salts, I produce 2,500 lbs. of earth manure. What is it which has produced 

I this result .? It is the extreme division of the element of manure operating by 

the fermentation which evolves the azotic principle of the animal. If the ani- 

^ mal dies at a time when I am not fabricating my manure — well, I throw it into ] 

j my reservoir of saturated water after having cut it into many pieces, and I add, 

i from time to time, a little quick lime to absorb the ammonia or the odor. 

/ Thus, then, it must be concluded, that in dividing manures one procures an 

j advantage, and that it is a positive advantage, by the intelligent use of the 

^ division of matter. Now, what are the means to produce this division .? There 

I exists but one; it is the present method. 

I Article Third.— Preservation of Manures— Mode in use compared to that 
' which I propose. 

J Q. You must have visited many farms, and have seen how the farmers do 

i to preserve their manures from one season to another, and how they apply it. 

^ Do you think their mode advantageous, or can you name a better ? 

I Answer. I have been in many states, and have seen a great number of 

farms. I have seen, that the litter which they throw from the stables is put 

into small heaps, near the stable doors, and that other heaps were upon divers 

places of the farm, occupying a large surface, and being only two or three feet 

high ; that in the barn-yard they had spread, as it was needed, straw in such 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 77 

a manner, so that often the whole surface of the barn-yard is covered with litter, 
forming a bed two or three feet thick, from which the liquid is always escaping. 
I asked of each farmer why he made such a disposition of his manure } The 
greater part of them replied that it was the custom of the country, and that 
they did as their ancestors did. But one of them, better instructed, told me 
that he let his litter remain from three to six months in the barn-yard, because 
it was too much trouble to take them away periodically to heap them outside ; 
that, besides, in this manner, this litter decomposed slowly by means of the 
rains, the urine, and the detritus of his cattle ; that as to the stable manures he 
only raised them two or three feet, because in this manner the rains could pene- 
trate them, and bring them into a fine fermentation, which kept them fresh for 
six months, and until their being used ; that if they weie raised seven or eight 
feet high the rain would not wet them, they would be no more fermented, and 
would not be sufficiently matured at the season of their being put in the ground. 

By this well established reasoning the question is placed upon its true 
grounds, and by giving my reply to the farmers you can judge which of the two 
is right. 

Well, I maintain that you ought to raise the litter of your barn-yard every 
fifteen days, or at least all the month ; remove this from the stables every eight or 
ten days ; form it into a heap, and raise it six or ten feet high, whether you 
have the intention to use it immediately, or to preserve it for six or eight 
months. 

If you put in your manures in a short time, for example, in a month, it is a 
great error not to raise the manure heaps above two or three feet, because they 
will not have time to make, either from being chilled by the ground, or because 
you have not watered them, and that the rains, upon which you count to do 
your work gratuitously, may, contrary to orders, not come for two months ; 
and even should the rain come the next day, after having built your heap two 
or three feet high above the soil, you will have a slow fermentation, because it 
is necessary to raise the manure heap five or six feet at least, for a rapid fer- 
mentation to come with the aid of waterings. 

If you wish to preserve your manures for a long time, they must be raised 
seven or eight feet high at least, because, if you keep them low they will occupy 
a large surface ; as this surface is spread, the more they will be washed by the 
rains, and the more they will lose their juices ; the air, the wind, and the sun, 
will dissipate the gases, which should be preserved. 

But, say you, if I wish to preserve my manure heaps for a long time, and if 
I raise them very high, I am certain to have nothing more than mould in place of 
manure, because the heaping of a large mass of litter will cause a prompt and 
powerful fermentation, which, by its length, will destroy in place of preserving 
it ; whereas, in keeping them low and moist by the rains, I maintain them fresh 
for the next six months, and I have not sustained any loss. 

I reply to you, that your objection, which seems just at first sight, is in truth 
not so, and I show your error from this : you suppose, that the rains which wet 
your heaps of two or three feet thickness, would moisten equally a heap of ten 



78 eommer's method 

feet hio-h, but it is not so. Take notice that you seek to preserve the rain \ 

waters even at the moment of their fall, and that I seek to spread them, \ 

becaus3 I vs^ish to water my manures where I think it useful, and not when it I 

pleases the clouds to discharge themselves upon the earth. Ycu follow chance ; '', 

I go as a man with a torch in his hand. I wet m}^ manures a little before using ^ 

^ theiri, and I make them by the help of a regulated fermentation, deccnipostd / 

'/ much or little, according to the grounds, and the plants to which 1 with to apply :' 

\ them ; also in taking them from the stable and the barn-yard, my manures are ; 

'• not watered, thej^ are scarcely in a humid state, and it is in this state that ] ^ 

] throw them into a very high heap ; I heap them and water them ; but upon ', 

\ each foot of the heap which I build, I spread a layer of earth four or six inches \ 

\ thick, which has the faculty of preventing fermentation, and which becomes \ 

< mould ; this gives me a surplus of manure. I hold them in a kind of > 
\ an insulated bath ; I arrange them in such a manner that the air, the > 
i sun, and the water, can neither dry them, nor wash them, nor reach 

\ them ; I form a kind of shed of the manure itself to cover it, and to expose 

I it as little as possible to its enemies, up to the tiine to which I seek to 

< preserve it, as it is, without contemplating its amelioration. I do not with to \ 

< ferment it, because 1 must preserve it for many months, and I have a greater ', 
i certainty by my method of preserving my manures, than you have to make '/ 

< yours, since I protect all my manures, and you encounter immense losses by ^ 
s its being displayed upon a large surface ; your manures are not enriched, their ] 
I juices run off, or are evaporated. Every new rain which falls displaces the ^ 
] juices, and after many displacements of this kind, the manure which remains ^ 
i has no longer the smell of ammonia, it becomes dry and spongy, and is nothing i 
^ more than the ghost of manure. In vain you make a large hole in the ground > 
i to retain the juices of the heap, which are washed out by the heavy rains; in \ 
^ a large yard this hole is full in an instant, and nothing can prevent the escape i 
I of the blackish mass of juices which are lost out of it. ;; 
j; Well, this accident, which is ot incalculaLle importance, does not occur with ;; 
■I me. ]SIy heap, when raised, presents but a small surface ; I incline its top i 
'/ like the roof of a house ; the rains do not pr-netrate it, and consequently 1 ;; 
; never lose its juices ; the fermentation is suspended, and no loss is sustained '' 
\ fcy the effect of the sun and the air, which would carry off its amm.oniacal gas. '> 
\ Then, when the lime for manuring approaches, I take measures for seasoning ;; 
( and maturing it. Thus, if we are at the autumnal rains, I open the top of ^ 

< the heap, trumpet shaped, so as the rain can penetrate it ; I mak'^' near to it a / 
i large hole in the ground, to receive what may flow from it, which will never • 
'/ be abundant, because my upper surface is sinall, and the heap is high. In the ; 
j; water which flows from the heap I throw the elements of my lye, and with a \ 
\ dipper, or buckets, or a pump, I make a very efficient watering, having first ;; 
\ made holes all over the>upper surface of the heap, in order that the lye may be ^ 
;; spread regularly through the whole mass of manure, and that the fermentation \ 
'/ which had been suspended for so long a time may start with vigor, and if I so \ 
[ wish it, furnish me with decomposed and eniiched manure in place of yours, ^ 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 79 



i which has been washed and discolored, and whose parts you believe to be rich, 

^ because they are humid, have been fed M'ith rain water, instead of the salts 

; and substantial juices which the rain has washed out of them. 
^ I am convinced that your ancient process is a pioHlic source of the miscal- 

? culations which have been made by following its application. If, for example, 

j you carried these manures, thus M'ashed and despoiled of their juices, upon a 

'i light and sandy soil, how could you hope for a good crop of grain, if it should 

I not prove a wet season ? In time of a great drought, a rich manure, and 

I charged with salts, preserve the freshnets of the soil and plants ; the salts 

) impregnate the dews, and they are thus administered to plants; whereas, with 

^ a manure dry and discolored the earth hcs nothing to protect it from the burnino- 

^ rays of the sun, the dews become of no effect, the seed languishes, and the 

i crop fails. It is necessary, then, that the farmer should use all his efforts to 

I employ manures in their highest perfection, because the better he preserves 

^ them the more he will provide against loss. 

<> Now, the best way is to make a great deal of litter manure a month before 

] the time of puttir.g in his manures, and after this time to put no more under 

5 the feet of his cattle than just enough to collect their dung and urine, and to 

i prevent them from becoming stained and dirty in laying down ; that is, if he 
^"do3s not wish to adopt my system of manure described in chapter ten. 

< As it is easier to take care of, and preserve a small quantity of manure, than 
^ a large one ; you will guard with precaution this small quantity, -which will 
I serve at seed time for a leaven to convert into manure all the straw which you 
^ can spare. It will result from that, that you will have avoided a great loss of 
$ substances in the straw, which should be buried in about fifteen days of fer- 
l mentation in their state of perfect manure, ripened to the point wished for, 
5 instead of being deteriorated by a six months exposition to the air, and a de- 
\ structive fermentation, for I repeat to you that the slow fermentation of your 
I barn-yard litter, and of your three feet high heap, is as pernicious to the fertili- 
^ zing matter, as the loss of juices by the rains, the air, and the sun. 

Thus, it will be easy to calculate, from the crop of straw, that, for example, 

> it being thirty tons, fifteen ought to suffice for the nourishment and litter strictly 

> necessary for the cattle, and that, therefore, you should preserve, for the month 

<■ of September, fifteen tons, which, in fifteen days, will be converted into sixty I 

< tons of manure. -. 
^ There is still another objection which you will not fail to make, and to ;; 
^ which I respond at once, in order to finish, and entirely to clear up this ques- < 

< tion, namely : " Which is the best of our two processes :" I 
'i You tell me that your barn-yard manure makes itself; that one has only the > 
^ labor of filling the carts and transporting it to the fields ; that you profit by the > 
! rains, and that it is watered without work; whereas, with me water is neces- ^ 

> sary, which is far from always being at one's disposal, and that, in fine, you \ 
? must have hands to put the manure into a heap, and to water it. This is true, \ 

but first take notice that, according to my process, your manures will be worth \ 
double and triple, when you take into consideration its fertilizing principles, \ 



80 bommer's method 



\ and then consider well "whether your success depends more upon the quantity | 
\ or the quality of your manures. Now, it seems to me, that it is well worth i 
I your pains to devote a few days to this essential branch of your establishment, ( 
\ to seek the means of collecting the waters from the heavens, and that you \ 
\ would do well to irrigate your manures with it at the time when this work is \ 
\ necessary. In tine, use the two systems to be able to compare them, and let > 
I me know which you decide upon keeping. > 

\ Yes, I consent to this, and the more willingly that yours appears to be more ^ 
) rational than mine, and I promise to let you know the result. | 

Well, sir, I wish you success. Adieu. 
i Wherever I have continued my visits I have seen manure treated in the same 
i way. All acknowledge that the juices of the manure heap are diluted and wasted 
/ by the rains, but they add : " What do you wish me to do ? it cannot be other- 
^ wise." I believe that I have demonstrated that it can be otherwise ; that the cost 
< of the labor, which consists in removing from the stables, heaping up, and water- 
I ing the manure heaps, at the proper time, instead of trusting to chance waterings | 
5 by rain, is, compared to the benefits which result from it, so small, that no one can | 
'/ seriously make the objection, or pretend that it is better to await the rain and I 
I let it be despoiled of a greater part of its worth, rather than to preserve it at \ 
I the expense of some care and trouble. I 

\ I have seen, also, that in a great number there were parcels of small heaps | 
i of litter manure upon various fields, that upon other places there was manure ^ 
I which had been spread for a long while, and after examination T found that it | 
] was more than a month that these heaps had been there, without the farmers < 
i ever having dreamt of burying them ; also, these manures had no more odor, < 
\ and they were but the ghosts of manure. ^ 

^ But, if the mode of burying the manures immediately after being carried into 
\ the field, as is recommended by science, presents great advantages, this practice 
j acquires still further importance in the application of my vegetable manure. ( 
I In fact, my fermented manure being richer in gases and juices than those from | 
\ cattle, and these gases tending to evaporation, it is very important to bury them, I 
\ as they are transported into the fields ; it is a sure means of maintaining them ' 
\ in all their power to benefit the plants. ;; 

I seize, then, this occasion, expressly to recomxmend not to open a heap of I 
manure made after this method, but when the fermentation is over ; and not < 
to transport and spread it upon the field until he is ready to till the field ; or, < 
what would be better still, would be to throw it from the cart into the furrow j 
while the plough is covering it ; that is to say, that while one man is tilling I 
the field, another transports the manure, and throws it from the cart into the ^ 
\ furrow which the plough is next to cover ; and so continuing the operation, the f 
i manure will be covered in all its freshness, and, consequently, in all its power. ^ 
I This practice is also recommended by our best agricultural writers. < 

> But, say you, this system is only practicable upon farms where there is an ■ 
\ abundance of hands and beasts of labor, but that with you, who can only run \ 



r 



FOR MAKING MANURE. 81 



\ one plough, it is impossible to haul, and spread, and cover in the manure at the \ 

i same time. 

} Your remark is just, and to remove this obstacle I name to you another 

\ means of saving your manures from deterioration, in case you let them remain 

< for a long time upon the fields. 

<. If you want to transport your manures a long time before ploughing time, 

< you form, at equal distances, small heaps all over the field, each of vv^hich 

< will contain one or two cart loads of manure ; then j'ou will take care to cover all \ 
I the surface of these heaps with the earth of the vicinity. By this very simple 

I precaution, you assure to yourself advantages which compensate for much of | 

; the labor of this operation. In fact, the manure, thus covered, completes its | 

^ ripening ; no more is lost by evaporation. The earth serving to envelope it is | 

i converted into a good mould, which further augments the quantity of manure. ; 

? In acting thus you can transport your manures at spare moments. I have so < 

i preserved small heaps of manure for three summer months, and, at the opening, 5 

^ I was not a little surprised to see it fresh as when it came from the farm. / 

I i 

I • Article Fourth. \ 

\ \ 

( I 

\ Question. Finally, your method having been in circulation for a long while, ; 
\ it ought to be in use in a great uiany farms. Are \hfiv satisfied with the result .-' \ 
\ Answer. My system is already adopted on a great many farms in all parts \ 
<. of the Union, and I have the satisfaction to say to you, that all those who have | 
I tried it are highly satisfied with the result, as you will find in all the agricul- ^ 
s tural papers, reports of agricultural societies, and certificates of distinguished > 
^ farmers, who attest the elficacy of this manure, and the advantages of the \ 
i system. I 

'( I will conclude this v^^ork by the insertion of a letter written by a distin- \ 
j guished farmer near New- York, a subscriber to this method : ^ 

^ " Sir — Your method, and the results which followed my application of it, | 
have suggested to me some reflections v/hich j^ou are at liberty to publish, if i 
you judge them useful to agriculture. t 

" To my mind, one of the causes of the slov\^ progress of our agriculture, con- \ 
sists in the fatal delusion of farmers in the production of manures by cattle, 5 
and upon the necessity of stimulating amendments, such as lime, plaster, ashes, 
i &c., used by so many farmers. Those who have the imprudence to write that 
\ the only means of agricultural prosperity consists in the purchase of many 
I cattle, for them to consume all the straw of the farm, and who counsel the 
^ employment of stimulants, without being much concerned about their cost, and 
I their different applications, according to the nature of soils and plants, have 

< never done any thing in the agricultural arts but in their closets. They have 
> never yet felt the consternation which takes away from the true farmer all his 
^ faculties when he perceives his workman lifting the last cart load of manure, 
'/^ and in raising his head he sees beyond a vast field to, manure, all tilled, all 
i ready to receive a sowing, but which will not produce the expenses of labor. 
1 11 



i 82 bommer's method 

' He sees it without hope of finding other manures for a long while. As for > 

^ myself 1 feel very opposite sensations ; I hasten to carry ofi" my heaps, to ; 

j replace them by others ; I fabricate earthy manure for my artificial and natural ^ 

i meadows ; in one word, I make as much manure as needed on my farm. The j 

J benefits which I derive from your method are immense, since, previous to my { 

5 becoming acquainted with it, I made scarcely one hundred and fifty loads of ^ 

I cattle manure, which was about one-fourth of the quantity I wanted to keep > 

< my farm in a high state of cultivation ; I had, therefore, to buy four or five ^ 
) hundred dollars worth of manure every year. Nov/, I not only avoid this ^ 
i expense, but my land is far better manured than formerly. And how much 

\ money do you suppose I have expended in the making of this mass of manure ^ ^ 

' Just twenty-four dollars for lime. The other materials were on my farm, and > 

^ cost me only the trouble of collecting and bringing into one place. Thus, I i 

\ say it confidently, agriculture has sufiered, because farmers knew no other \ 

( manure than that made from cattle, or the most expensive stimulants ; and it I 

< will be solely from the Method you have given us, how to make our manure ^ 
\ othenoise, that agriculture will henceforth make rapid progress. I do not be- I 
j lieve that a more important truth has ever been proclaimed to the world. > 
I " These, my dear sir, are all the testimonials I can give you. I trust they | 
> will prove satisfactory to you ; and as I do not consider your Method one l 

which ought to be changed every day, and do believe, on the contrary, that it ;; 
will endure as long as agriculture itself, I urge you to take suitable measures to i 
propagate it promptly, for its introduction into farms will not fail to cause \ 
happy results to the profit of agriculture, and, consequently, of the country." 
You see, then, my dear reader, the consequences which result from an intel- 
ligent application of this system. Therefore imitate this worthy and intelligent 
farmer. Like him act v/ith intelligence and skill ; display ingenuity in the 
organization of your place of operations ; pursue your labors with perseverance, 
and be certain that very soon you also will be in a situation to address me lines 
as satisfactory as the above. Meanwhile you have my most sincere wishes for 
your agricultural prosperity. , 

"::'"'^'- . GEORGE BOMMER. 



i 



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COPY-RIGHT AND PATENT-RIGHT. 



Be it known that I, George Bommer, the author of this work, am the 
sole proprietor of the copyright, entered in the Clerk's Office of the Southern 
District of New-York, the sixth of October, 1843. Also, of the patent-right 
for the New-England, New-York, New-Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania 
States, duly recorded in the Patent Office at Washington, June 27th, 1843. 

In testimony whereof, I hereunto affix my signature and seal. 
Neiv-York, November 1st, 1843. 




CONTENTS. I 

Page. I 

ADVERTISEMENT, 3 | 

INDIVIDUAL PATENT RIGHT, 4 | 

PREFACE, 5 

PART FIRST— Section First. 

Article 1. Saturated water, its preparation, 9 

" 2. Place of operation, 10 

•' 3. Grate upon which the heap is built, - ] 1, 12 

" 4. Reservoir for the lye, 12, 13 < 

" 5. Table of materials of which the lye is composed, 13 I 

" 6. Materials which may be substituted to those designated in the table,. . 14 ^ 

" 7. Composition of the lye, 15 > 

" 8. Manner of making the manure, 15 i 

" 8. First process, by immersion, 15, 16 ^ 

" 8. Second process, by ii-rigation or watering, IC, 17 \ 

" *8rWafe|ings,\ .\ .V :-.". ."• •.. 18, 19 { 

% • • \ 

m I 

SECTION SECOND. \ 

Article 1. Vegetable compost or mould, 20 \ 

1. First process, by high fermentation, 20 / 

2. Second process, by moderated fermentation, 21 / 

3. Vegeto-mineral compost, without fermentation, 21, 22 j 

4. Earth manure, 22 ^ 

4. First process, 22 \ 

4. Second process, 23 ] 



SECTION THIRD. 

Artici^e 1. Means to augment and ameliorate farm manure,. 23, 24 

" 2. Means to prepare " purin," a fertilizing liquid for watering, 26 

" 3. To employ the dregs or lees, and residues of distilleries and manufactories, 26 

" 4. Mode of reviving the heat under the hot-beds, without changing the litter, 26,27 




CONTENTS. 



PART SECOND— Section First. 

Article 1. Vegetable, compared to animal manure, 28, 29 

" 1. Four advantages of the Bommer manure over that of cattle,. . . .29, 30, 31, 32 

" 2. Fermentation, , 32, 33 

" 2. Opinion of authors concerning the fermentation of manures, 33, 34 

" 2. Bommer'3 opinion concerning the fermentation of manures, 34, 35 

" 3. Application of Bommer's manure to various earths, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39 

" 4. Application of Bommer's manure according to the nature of the plant, 39, 40 j 

" 5. Solution of the problem put by the celebrated Payen, 40 J 

" G. Nourishment of plants, and of what they are composed, 40, 41 '; 

" 7. Vegetable metempsycosis, or transmutation of a dead into a living 

vegetable, 41, 42 

" 8. Economy, 42, 43, 44 

SECTION SECOND. 

Article 1. Saturated water, divided in four classes, or distinct qualities, 44, 45 

" 2. Place of operation, 45 

" 2. If it is absolutely necessary to construct a grate ? 45, 46 

" 2. Employment of old boards, in place of beating the surface of the place 

of operation,, 46 

" 3. Lye ingredients, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52 

•' 3. Retrenchment of the soot, salt, and saltpetre, 52, 53 I 

" 3. Employment of ground bones, horn shavings, sawdust, ground charcoal, I 

blood, and other residues of butcheries, and those of salting establish- \ 

ments, , 53 i 

4. Composition of the lye, 54 | 

" 4. Reduction and augmentation of the ingredients, 54 \ 

" 4. Variation of the quantity of the ingredients according to the size of the \ 

heap, 54, 55 

" 4. The least and the greatest quantity of materials that can be employed in 

our operation, 55 

" 4. Virtue of the lye. What it is, 55, 56 

5. Manner of making the manure, 56 

'* 5. Mode of making the manure as short and fine as you please, 56, 57 

" 5. Necessity of the mixture of the leaves of trees, with other vegetables, 57, 58 
" 5. Covering the heap with straw, and not with other materials ; the reason 

for doing so, 58, 59 

" 5. Destruction of the heap, advantage which results from it, 59 

" 5. Labor, 59, 60 

SECTION THIRD. 

Article 1. Vegetable and mineral composts, 

" 1. Mixture of vegetables with turfy materials, proportions to be observed 

in this mixture, 60,61 



86 CONTBNTS. < 

Article 1. The most favorable season for the preparation ot composts, 61 v 

1. If it is advantageous to use compost in a fresh state, 61 > 

1. The preservation of composts, 61, 62 ' 

1. Regulations to observe in the fabrication of composts, 62 ( 

1. European composts or moulds, compared to mine, 62, 63 J 

1. Poudrette compared to my composts,. 63, 64 ', 

2. Means to augment considerably the manure of a farm, 64 ^ 

2. Dried earth in place of straw, as litter for beasts, 64, 65 ? 

2. Immense advantages of the employment of human excrements, or ani- > 
mal dejections, 66 ^ 

3. Waterings with urinous or putrified liquids, 66 < 

3. Effect of this watering, compared to that of my mineral composts,. . . . 66, 67 ^ 

3. Liquid manures compared to my composts, 67, 68, 69, 70 '• 

4. Summary of the principal advantages of this Method ; twenty-four ,' 
advantages, 70, 71, 72 f 

5 f 

? SECTION FOURTH.— SuppLEMENTAEY Articles. 

s ^ 

( Article 1. Analysis of earths : 73 ^ 

( " 1. Simple means to detect the nature of earths, without the aid of chemistry, 73 j 

^ " 1. Physical analysis, or that which can be appreciated by the senses, 73,74 ^ 

I " 1. Advantage resulting from this analysis, 74 i 

] " 1. Interest which every one has in knowing the nature of his lands, 74 ^ 

i " 1. Means to detect marl, 74,75 j 

^ 2. Division of manures : 75 \ 

I " 2. Manure heaped up at any point is prejudicial to vegetation at that place, 75 > 

i " 2. Advantage resulting from the division of manure, 75, 76 ? 

/ 3. Preservation of manures — mode in use compared to that which I / 

\ propose, , 76,77,78,79,80,81 ^ 

\ " 4. Results which have been obtained from this method, 81, 82, 83 '<, 






ERRATA. 



j Page 9 — 14th line from the bottom, after the word " urine" add a comma. 

'/ Page 11 — 4th line, for the word " distant," read distance. 

I Page 11 — 3d line of the grate, for " figure,3," read figure 1. 

i Page 12 — 2d line of vat, figure 3, for "Channels or Antlers," read the Channels 8 inches in 

/ width. 

I Page 13 — 2d line of Article Fifth, instead of " weighing," read measuring. 

i Page 15 — 21st line from top, for " layer," read roller. 

^ Page 15 — 27th line from top, after the word "fork," add a comma. 

i Page 15— 30th line from top, for " layer of some gas," read layer of some 9 or 10 inches. 

' Page 15 — 36th line, for " recommend," read recommence. 

I Page 17 — 1st line, for " paired" read pared 

Page 17 — 22d line from top, for " material" read materials 

Page 19 — 13th line, after the word " section" add second 

Page 22 — 22d line, for " quantity of the earthly matter," read quantity of earthy matter, 

Page 22 — 9th line from the bottom, for " each," 7^ead earth. 

Page 23 — 17th line from top, in some of the copies, for " civilization," read fertilization, 

Page 23 — 26th line from top, for " and" read of a 

Page 24 — 9th Ime from top, for " then add layer upon layer" read then add a layer 

Page 24— 10th Hne from top, for " about six inches, we put" read about six inches, put 

Page 25— 3d line from the bottom, for " practical" read practiced 

Page 26— 13th line from bottom, for " restorants," read hot-beds. 

Page 26— 2d line from bottom, for "gradation" read graduation 

Page 28 — 10th line from bottom, for " unctious" read unctuous 

Page 29 — 14th line from bottom, for " earthly" read earthy 

Page 29— 2d line from bottom, for " bring," read buy, 

Page 30— 1st line, for " successfully," read successively. 

Page 31 — 18th line from bottom, for " niters." read nitres. 

Page 34 — 2d line, for " farmers do not desire" read farmers desire 

Page 40 — 15th line from bottom, for " two" read too 

Page 47 — 5th line from bottom, for " name" read take 

Page 47— 4th line from bottom, for " but this substitute is more often necessary to buy to 
avoid this expense. Can we not," read, but this substitute it is often necessary to buy. To \ 
avoid this expense, can we not, < 

Page 48— 13th line from bottom, for " all that we know of saltpetre is," read every one f 
knows, t 

Page 48— 10th line from bottom, for " when" read' then J 

Page 49— 14th line from bottom, for " is not calcareous," read is calcareous, < 

Page 49— 13th line, for " with lime," read with the lime, ^ 

Page 57— 19th line from bottom, for " feculant matter and sugar," read fecula and sugar, \ 

Page 59— I7th line from top, for " the oxygen in the atmospheric air," read the oxygen is i 
renewed, j 

Page 62— 2d line from bottom, for " Romans" read Normans 5 

Page 66- 14th line from top, for " matters. In supposing yet" read matters, in supposing even 

Page 70— 2d line from top, for " also in the" read also the 

Page 74— 6th line from top, for " or is in a state" read a state 

Page 79— 4th line from bottom, for " you" read I 




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